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It is absolutely intrinsic that you
should read the U.S. C onstitution.
This should be done w ith the intent to
understand the contents o f this unique
document. What you w ill find is that
we have a form o f government that is
three dimensional by C onstitutional
design: The Executive, Judaical, and
legislative. This form is the best that
a country can have, and once you
understand how this government op­
erates, it w ill m ystify and delight you.
The fo llo w in g is a paragon as to
why you should read the U.S. C onsti­
tution. The U.S. went to the gold
standardin 1933,and, in 1968,money
backed by silvercertificates, was w ith ­
drawn from the market. W hat hap­
pened in this case is that Congress
violated the U.S. Constitution by turn­
ing over money coinage to the Federal
Reserve banks and not having it
backed by silver an gold. (See the
coinage A ct o f 1792 which declares
that gold and sliver are to be the
money o f accountof the United States.)
Take the case o f Lew is vs. United
States, 680 F. 2D 1239 (1982), The
United States C ourt o f Appeals, the
N inth C ircu it. This court made the
fo llo w in g ruling: “ We conclude after
exam ining the facts that the Federal
Reserve Banks are not a part o f the
United States government. They are
privately owned, locally controlled
corporations. The General Account­
ing O ffice o f the United Sate does not
have ju risd ictio n over the Federal
Reserve Banks. Therefore, this w rite r
is o f the opinion that your federal
government should be in charge o f
the coinage o f money and to some
private corporation which the A m e ri­
can lax payers have no control over.”
It should be understood by the
readers o f this journal that private
corporations are in business to make
money. However, i f p ro fit is the mo­
tive, you can be assured that their
interests come first, and they have to
keep their stockholders happy.
I am not against p ro fit-m a kin g ,
because that’ s the “ Am erican way,
and I believe in the free enterprise
system; i t ’ s the best, bar none; but do
not run over the tax payers’ constitu­
tional rights to private corporations.
Areyouaware that inflation could
be brought to an abrupt halt in America
overnight i f this country went back to
the gold standard, take a look at what
has happened since 1968. When the
money that was backed by sliver cer­
tificates was w ithdraw n from the
market, inflation has continued to
aggrandize year by year.
I f we d o n ’ t go back to the
s ilv e r and g o ld c e rtific a te s s ta n ­
dard in th is c o u n try , by the year
2001, a c c o rd in g to p ro je c tio n s o f
the U .S. G o v e rn m e n t fig u re s , a o f
p ou nd h a m b u rg e r w i ll s e ll fo r
$ 1 0 .5 0 p e r p ound, a s im p le dress
th a t sells fo r $ 6 0 .0 0 in 1980 w i ll
se ll fo r $ 27 5.0 0 by the year 2001,
and a house th a t costs $ 75 ,0 0 0 in
1980 w i ll have p ric e tag on i t th a t
w i ll be lit e r a lly a s to u n d in g at
$ 60 0,0 0 0.
In general, we should be able to
cope quite w ell in such an economic
climate. Salaries are expected to keep
pace w ith the cost o f liv in g , easing the
Crime Stoppers
Case For The Week Of April 11, 1994: RAPE
The Beaverton Police Depart­
ment, incoopcration w ith Crim e Stop­
pers, is asking fo r your help in solving
a rape case.
On Tuesday, March 22,1994, at
approximately noon, a 20-year-old
w hite female was jogging southbound
on SW 170th, from SW M erio,o n the
east side o f the roadway, when a
subject approached from behind and
put his left hand over her face. The
suspect then held a blued steel semi­
automatic handgun to the v ic tim ’ s
side and forced her into a nearby
wooded area where he raped her.
The suspect is described as a
w hite male, m id -2 0 ’ s, 5 ’ 8" ta ll, w ith
a medium b uild, short dark brown
hair, and tw o to three day’ s growth o f
beard. A composite drawing is a vail­
able. A t the tim e, the suspect was
wearing a black baseball cap, black
letterm an type jacket, bl ue jeans, black
tennis shoes, and had on a “ C ool
A cell phone company run by
high school students and a model o f
future schools already at w o rk .....
Portland has the ju m p on C lin to n ’s
education plans. A congressional hear­
ing held on Thursday (A p ril 7) showed
what Portland is already doing to
connect schools w ith careers o f the
future. How school-to-work programs
move students from school to the
adult w orkforce is the subject o f the
hearing at the Portland C ity H all
C o u n cil Chambers. Congressman
Ron W yden and representatives from
Oregon’ s Department o f Education,
J ames L. P osey
press o f inflation. For example, the
secretarial job that paid $11,000 per
year in 1980 is expected to command
a whopping salary o f $45,000 by the
year 2001. A factory w orker who
made about $25,000 in 1980 m ight
expect to hold a sim ilar jo b paying
about $98,000. A high School teacher,
whose salary is around $15,000 now,
w ill be paid $58,000. O f course there
w ill be others who w ill do better or
worse, depending on how much fore­
sight they show in the choice o f their
careers.
You m ight ask what is the point
the author is trying to make? I t ’ s as
simple as this: There w ill be more
poverty and jobs lost in the future i f
we don’ t go back to a monetary sys­
tem that is backed up by sliver and
gold where by we can compete in the
w orld markets. This should be kept in
mind. I f the U.S. currency went back
on gold standards, your standard o f
liv in g could not decrease; it would
increase.
The m oral o f this story is that the
next time you think o f voting fo r a
politician, try to fin d out where he or
she understands the U.S. C onstitu­
tion and particularly the Coinage A c t
o f 1792, which declared gold and
silver to be the money o f account o f
the United States. A lso fin d out i f this
person understands how A rtic le 1,
Section 10 o f the U.S. affects the
citizens o f the state he or she repre­
sents.
I f the elected o ffic ia ls do not
properly understand this document,
how are they going to properly repre­
sent your interests?
St. Johns Parade
Committee
The St. Johns Parade Com m ittee
is pleased to present the 32nd Annual
St. Johns Parade Saturday, M ay 7th,
from 12 noon to 2:00pm . Starting at
N. B urr traveling weston N. Lom bard
thru downtown St. Johns turning right
at N. New Y o rk and disbanding at N.
St. Johns street next to St.Johns Park.
Please come and be a part o f “ Our
Children O ur Future” .
In the Cities T hird Largest Pa­
rade w ith lots o f floats, bands, clowns,
and the firs t appearance o f 1994 Jun­
ior and Senior Rose Festival Court.
VVliat: 32nd Annual St. Johns
Composite of rape suspect
Parade
W hen: Saturday M ay 7th, Noon
Water type cologne.
Crim e S toppers is offering a cash
reward o f up to $1,000 fo r inform a­
tion, reported to Crim e Stoppers, that
leads to an arrest in this case, or any
unsolved felony crime, and you need
not give your name. C all Crim e Stop­
pers at (503)823-HELP.
to 2:00pm
W here: Starting at N. B urr trav­
eling west on N. Lombard
Them e: “ Our C hildren Our Fu­
Feds Come To Portland
Schools For A Look At The Future
W orkforce Q uality C ouncil and local
businesses discussed state efforts to
create school-to-work programs.
Portland Public Schools presents
tw o innovative programs: the Busi­
ness P a rtn e rs h ip s tra te g y and
Roosevelt Renaissance 2000.
Representatives from the U.S.
departments o f Education and Labor
discussed new federal school-to-work
legislation and how Portland (and
other Oregon programs) fits into the
adm inistration’ s goals.
P ortland O bserver
Killing Us By The Numbers
The Key To Liberty Can Be
Found In The U.S. Constitution
m O mari K enyatta , J.D.
13, 1994 • T he
ture”
G ra n d M a rs h a ll: Ray Lamb
im 1 HPIB I■11111(11
■.-■VS ,4 i
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FEW WEEKS AGO MY
DAUGHTER, A COL-
LEGE STUDENT IN
ALABAMA, INFORMED ME
THAT SHE GOT A “D” IN HER
CALCULUSCLASS.SHETRIED
TO CHEER ME UP BY TALKING
ABOUT HOW WELL SHE HAD
DONE IN THE REST OF HER
CLASSES. BUT SHE KNEW I
WOULD NOT EASILY GET
OVER THIS DISAPPOINTMENT.
I ’ m disappointed because I have
this great sense that Black peoples’
ina bility to deal w ith mathematics is
k illin g us as surely as the rampaging
use o f crack cocaine. O ur lack o f
understanding and appreciation fo r
how it affects our daily lives is devas­
tating. There is no question that A f r i­
can-Americans continue to receive
second class education in a ll areas.
But to continue to allow ourselves to
be deficient in this critical, life-sustain­
ing subject is nothing short o f suicide.
Now you don ’ t have to be a m ath­
ematical genius to see the hand w rit­
ing on the w idls. Math is the underlin­
ing foundation fo r nearly every a ctiv­
ity in business life. So i t ’s not so
surprising, as it is tragic, that the
numbers don’ t look good for Blacks
in virtua lly every category. Justcheck
out one o f the few good works which
lay out the numbers on B lack life : the
National Urban League’ s annual sta­
tus rep ort, “ The State o f B la c k
Am erica.” This report illustrates, in
most cases in simple arithm etic, the
fact that A frica n-A m erican s a in ’ t
doing so good.
In economic terms, we seem to
have a particular problem w ith addi­
tions and m ultiplications; by default,
we are inclined to accept subtractions
and divisions. For example, over the
last 10 years, Blacks, in comparison
to whites and other m inorities, have
not gained in overall capital invest­
ments in areas such as real estate. N or
have we significantly m u ltip lie d our
earning capacity. Indeed, during this
same period, we have lost ground in
the numbers o f Black corporate ex­
ecutives and in Blacks liv in g above
the poverty line.
Check out the state o f Black edu­
cation in Portland. C ertainly I ’ m no
expert, but it should be obvjous that
there is a direct connection between
how extensively one uses math skills
in their chosen career and personal
life and how much money one earns.
T ry this. V isualize the area high
schools and th ink about their special­
ize areas. For example, Benson is
recognized in the technical areas, in
electronics, medical careers, etc. From
what I understand, Cleveland is a
magnet school fo r business careers.
Now unless I ’ m mistaken, most
Black youth attend the schools w ith a
general curriculum o r w ith emphasis
on dance, entertainment or the arts. I
know the schools must strive to m ain­
tain strong academic programs in all
disciplines. However, in comparison
to schools w ith strong math-based
programs, the message is real clear
that Blacks are not encouraged to
focus on those areas. This situation
has not changed since slavery. Even
in schools where there is a strong
emphasis on math-based disciplines,
I ’d be surprised i f Black students
represent significant numbers.
N ot o nly are the higher paying
jobs based on the use o f math skills,
they also have the best prospects for
future long term employment. In other
words, people who have good math
ski 11s can almost al ways get a jo b or be
trained fo r a better one.
A nd its not just about jobs. The
conditioning o f Blacks to avoid com ­
petencies in mathematics is used to
econom ically oppress and deny us
opportunities a ll over the place. As
M alcolm said, w e’ve been had, hood­
winked and bamboozled. Blacks arc
subjected to all manner o f fraud and
m anipulation by the numbers and in
disproportion to the rest o f the popu­
One Stop Shopping
For Energy
The Department o f Energy now
provides one-stop shopping fo r people
who need inform ation on energy e ffi­
ciency and renewable energy tech­
nologies.
The newly-named Energy E ffi­
ciency and Renewable Energy Clear­
inghouse (ERC) now handles inq uir-
ics ranging from simple requests fo r
fact sheets, videos, and brochures, to
com plex technical inquiries at one
toll-free number, 1-800-523-2929.
The clearinghouse resulted from
the consolidation o f the Conservation
and Renewable Energy In q u iry and
Referral service (C A R EIR S) and the
N ational Appropriate T echnology
Assistance Service (N A T A S ).
Wigland
One of the Northwest Largest Wig Displays
Wigs and Hairpieces For all Nationalities
E va G abor
N aomi S ims
R enee of P aris
SyntheLc & Human Hair
For Braiding & Weeving
In addition to general inform a ­
tion inquires, the clearinghouse pro­
vides tailored responses to technical
inquiries and business assistance on
financing fo r energy-related busi­
nesses.
Plans are in the w orks to add
service for the hearing impaired and
com m unication through internet, a
world-widecom putercomm unication
network.
lation.
That is w hy the Oregonian news-
paper can w rite a g lo w in g editorial
about how w ell the Blazer Arena
Project has done in using m in ority
contractors and employees w ithout
actually checking out w hat’s really
behind the numbers. W ho is like ly to
challenge the only daily paper in town,
not to mention questioning the pow ­
erful B lazer organization? Surely, not
those Blacks who are most adversely
affected, in part because they are less
like ly to understand the convoluted
statistics.
And speaking o f newspapers, a
few weeks ago, Angela W ilson at the
Skannerchastised me forplaying what
she called the “ numbers’ game” in
one o f m y articles about Black fronts.
She inferred that it did not make any
difference whether a business is 51 %-
or 100%-owned by Blacks i f neither
is contributing back to the com m u­
nity. W e ll o f course no one could
argue against that assertion. I hope
Angela w ill come to realize that this
not a game, but it is about numbers. I
hope she w ill take tim e to figure the
lin k between the percentage o f m i­
nority-ow ned businesses and their
practices o f contributing back. Here
again, the numbers w ill speak fo r
themselves.
Some Blacks don’ t have the nec­
essary math background to form ulate
their own bids or to make the critica l
calculations to run their businesses.
They become overly dependent on
other groups who have the higher
math abilities and other educational
proficiency. This dependency makes
it easy to ju s tify fronting and a ll man­
ner o f compromising postures. Apply
this interdependency to nearly every
facet o f Black life and realize the
scope o f the problem. Yes, it is about
the numbers, both quantity and qual­
ity. W ith o ut them, w e’ re dead.
James Posey is a small business
owner w ith a background in social
w ork and com m unity activism.
Advertize
In
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(©Hseruer
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Saturday 10 - 5:30 pm
Near Lloyd Center
282-1664
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