Great White men in history : Vlad Tepes

No doubt he continues to inspire many…

Wallachian commander Vlad Ţepeş (Impaler), whose residence was located in Sighisoara, Romania, was neither a vampire nor any other supernatural creature. His family coat of arms had an image of a dragon on it, Dracula in Wallachian. That’s where the commander’s sinister nickname came from. However, the stories of his cruelty are most likely true. And Tepes was a nickname as well, not his last name. Vlad enjoyed impaling people (“tep” means “pole” in Romanian).

They say he nailed the hats to the heads of French ambassadors because they refused to remove them before him. He impaled his servant only because the poor guy could not stand the smell of corpses that served as a background for Dracula’s feasts.

Once he gathered all the beggars of his area for a feast and burned them down afterwards. The villain believed that he killed two birds with one stone – freed the country from the beggars and saved the beggars themselves from illnesses and suffering.

Once Dracula ordered to chop off the hands of a peasant’s wife and then impale her because she met her husband wearing rugged clothes. This was a reminder for other female peasants to patch their clothes.

Once Dracula ordered to impale ten thousand people at once, the entire population of a little town that was short of paying him two silver coins in taxes. Dracula was smiling doing this: “This will make others always pay me what they owe.”

By his order people were burned down in their houses and their corpses were fed to crabs in a local pond. Then Dracula fed the crabs to the families of those who dared to infringe upon his power. He liked to dine in a hall next to his enemies’ corpses with their throats cut open. Their dead hands held glasses filled with wine.

There is a castle on a mountain in Brasov called Black Castle. The owner gave it to Dracula as a birthday gift. Dracula did not like something about the castle and ordered to put the vassal to death.

In 1474 the maniac count was assassinated by fed up people at the foot of Moldoveanu mountain. He was not just murdered as a regular criminal, but dismembered.

His head was chopped off (most likely to kill any hope of his revival by black magic), covered with honey (most likely, to preserve it) and sent off to Istanbul to a Turkish sultan. The body was buried in the family tomb in Brasov visited by over 250 thousand tourists a year.

Hundreds of years ago medical experts came to the conclusion that Dracula suffered from continuous sluggish schizophrenia and another rare disease, porphyria. The symptoms of this disease include sunlight phobia (ultraviolet may cause cancerous tumors), extensive body hair coat, sharpening of all teeth.

Great White Men in History : Thomas Jefferson, the Face of a Rapist

“the good ol’ days”

Americans look at Thomas Jefferson and see the one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence,  a statesman, a former president and one of the founding fathers,’ however; when I look at him, I see the face of a rapist. When Jefferson first met Sally Hemings, his slave through inheritance, she would have been no more than 15 or 16 years old.  It is rumoured that when she returned from France with him, that she was already pregnant with his child.

It was widely suggested within his own life time that he kept a light skinned negro concubine.  You see, Sally was 3/4 white and was described as a handsome light skinned woman with long dark hair in one of the few known descriptions of her.   Jefferson’s children through his wife Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, denied the relationship, however; Jefferson himself did not publicly answer the rumours.  The only slaves that Jefferson freed were the children of Hemings and he petitioned the government for two of her sons to stay in Virginia after emancipation. At the time, a slave had to leave the state within one year of manumission.

There are those that to this day vehemently deny that Jefferson fathered Sally’s six children despite the DNA evidence.  It is my belief that such denial is not based in the simple fact that it would prove that he was a lecher but that he chose a woman of color.

On the other side of the coin are those that believe the oral, written, and DNA evidence.   They often refer to the relationship as an illicit love affair, citing that Sally had the opportunity to stay in France where slavery was outlawed, rather than returning to the United States with Jefferson.  Assuming that Sally had chosen to stay in Paris, what would an uneducated 1/4 negresss do with no money to support herself and her unborn child?  She chose to return because Jefferson gave his word that he would free her children and offer her a life of comfort relative to the other slaves at Monticello.

Jefferson may have felt love for Sally but how can we possibly term this relationship a love affair?  Once they returned to the US, he had the power to have her flogged, or even put to death.  At anytime he could have sold her children away from her.  For a relationship based in love to exist, both parties must be equal and due to the power differential between Jefferson and Hemings what occurred cannot be described as anything other than rape.  Some have even had the nerve to refer to Hemings as the first Black first lady of the United States as a way of further legitimizing the relationship between the two, however; to sanitize it and call it anything other than rape, is to once again violate her spirit.

Jefferson was not the first or last White man to sneak into the slave cabins.  One of the reasons White women argued so vehemently for the abolition of slavery, was to save the poor overwhelmed White man from the negro temptress.  It was not uncommon to see near white or light skinned children resembling the master working on the plantation. The Black woman was and still is blamed for her own rape.  Victim blaming began with women of color and continues to this day.

No matter how many times Black women have angrily contested the use of the term love affair between Hemings and Jefferson, it continues to be the most common descriptor by those who believe the DNA evidence.  This assumes that Hemings actually had the power to deny Jefferson sexual access, or that Jefferson had a right to Sally’s body for the purposes of sexual gratification.  Both suppositions are erroneous.  Due to the patriarchal nature of gender relations, many men believe that they exist with the right to access  women’s bodies and that is specifically grounded in the power imbalance between the genders.  If we can acknowledge in a modern context that a power imbalance exists between men and women, how much more likely is it that this same imbalance existed between Jefferson and Hemings?

Some may look back at Jefferson and simply claim that he was a man of his time and that he should not be judged outside of historical context, however; in my mind a rapist is a rapist.   What he did at the time may not have been considered a violation due to current race and gender relations, however; today we can correctly name his actions.  Sally did not have the power to consent to his advances even if she was so inclined; this simple fact must be affirmed not only to honour the memory of Hemings but to change the social understanding that Black women’s bodies are unrapeable.  We are not naturally licentious whores who exist to fulfill the sexual fantasies of depraved racist men.  We are women that must be accorded the right to control over our bodies without punishment for any decisions we make in that regard.

Great White men in history : Jeffrey Dahmer

White cannibalism at its finest.

Great White men in history : George W. Bush

Nice farewell salute…

50. “I promise you I will listen to what has been said here, even though I wasn’t here.” —at the President’s Economic Forum in Waco, Texas, Aug. 13, 2002

49. “We spent a lot of time talking about Africa, as we should. Africa is a nation that suffers from incredible disease.” —Gothenburg, Sweden, June 14, 2001

48. “You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.” —Townsend, Tenn., Feb. 21, 2001

47. “We both use Colgate toothpaste.” —after a reporter asked what he had in common with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Camp David, Md., Feb. 23, 2001

46. “Tribal sovereignty means that; it’s sovereign. I mean, you’re a — you’ve been given sovereignty, and you’re viewed as a sovereign entity. And therefore the relationship between the federal government and tribes is one between sovereign entities.” —Washington, D.C., Aug. 6, 2004 (Watch video)

45. “I glance at the headlines just to kind of get a flavor for what’s moving. I rarely read the stories, and get briefed by people who are probably read the news themselves.” —Washington, D.C., Sept. 21, 2003

44. “I’m the commander — see, I don’t need to explain — I do not need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being president.” —as quoted in Bob Woodward’s Bush at War

43. “I am here to make an announcement that this Thursday, ticket counters and airplanes will fly out of Ronald Reagan Airport.” —Washington, D.C., Oct. 3, 2001

42. “The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself.” —Grand Rapids, Mich., Jan. 29, 2003

41. “I saw a poll that said the right track/wrong track in Iraq was better than here in America. It’s pretty darn strong. I mean, the people see a better future.” —Washington, D.C., Sept. 23, 2004

40. “Oh, no, we’re not going to have any casualties.” —discussing the Iraq war with Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson, as quoted by Robertson

39. “I hear there’s rumors on the Internets that we’re going to have a draft.” —presidential debate, St. Louis, Mo., Oct. 8, 2004 (Watch video)

38. “Haven’t we already given money to rich people? Why are we going to do it again?” —to economic advisers discussing a second round of tax cuts, as quoted by former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neil, Washington, D.C., Nov. 26, 2002

37. “We need an energy bill that encourages consumption.” —Trenton, N.J., Sept. 23, 2002

36. “After standing on the stage, after the debates, I made it very plain, we will not have an all-volunteer army. And yet, this week — we will have an all-volunteer army!” —Daytona Beach, Fla., Oct. 16, 2004 (Watch video)

35. “Do you have blacks, too?” —to Brazilian President Fernando Cardoso, Washington, D.C., Nov. 8, 2001

34. “This foreign policy stuff is a little frustrating.” —as quoted by the New York Daily News, April 23, 2002

33. “I got to know Ken Lay when he was head of the — what they call the Governor’s Business Council in Texas. He was a supporter of Ann Richards in my run in 1994. And she had named him the head of the Governor’s Business Council. And I decided to leave him in place, just for the sake of continuity. And that’s when I first got to know Ken and worked with Ken.” —attempting to distance himself from his biggest political patron, Enron Chairman Ken Lay, whom he nicknamed “Kenny Boy,” Washington, D.C., Jan. 10, 2002

32. “It is white.” —after being asked by a child in Britain what the White House was like, July 19, 2001

31. “I couldn’t imagine somebody like Osama bin Laden understanding the joy of Hanukkah.” —at a White House menorah lighting ceremony, Washington, D.C., Dec. 10, 2001

30. “For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings. And, folks, this is unacceptable in America. It’s just unacceptable. And we’re going to do something about it.” —Philadelphia, Penn., May 14, 2001

29. “I don’t know why you’re talking about Sweden. They’re the neutral one. They don’t have an army.” —during a Dec. 2002 Oval Office meeting with Rep. Tom Lantos, as reported by the New York Times

28. “You forgot Poland.” —to Sen. John Kerry during the first presidential debate, after Kerry failed to mention Poland’s contributions to the Iraq war coalition, Miami, Fla., Sept. 30, 2004

27. “I’m the master of low expectations.” —aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

26. “I’m also not very analytical. You know I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about myself, about why I do things.” —aboard Air Force One, June 4, 2003

25. “I know what I believe. I will continue to articulate what I believe and what I believe — I believe what I believe is right.” —Rome, Italy, July 22, 2001

24. “We need to counter the shockwave of the evildoer by having individual rate cuts accelerated and by thinking about tax rebates.” —Washington, D.C. Oct. 4, 2001

23. “People say, how can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil? You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in’s house and say I love you.” —Washington, D.C., Sept. 19, 2002

22. “I wish you’d have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it…I’m sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with answer, but it hadn’t yet….I don’t want to sound like I have made no mistakes. I’m confident I have. I just haven’t — you just put me under the spot here, and maybe I’m not as quick on my feet as I should be in coming up with one.” —President George W. Bush, after being asked to name the biggest mistake he had made, Washington, D.C., April 3, 2004

21. “The really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway.” —explaining why high taxes on the rich are a failed strategy, Annandale, Va., Aug. 9, 2004

20. “My plan reduces the national debt, and fast. So fast, in fact, that economists worry that we’re going to run out of debt to retire.” —radio address, Feb. 24, 2001

19. “You know, when I was one time campaigning in Chicago, a reporter said, ‘Would you ever have a deficit?’ I said, ‘I can’t imagine it, but there would be one if we had a war, or a national emergency, or a recession.’ Never did I dream we’d get the trifecta.” —Houston, Texas, June 14, 2002 (There is no evidence Bush ever made any such statement, despite recounting the trifecta line repeatedly in 2002. A search by the Washington Post revealed that the three caveats were brought up before the 2000 campaign — by Al Gore.)

18. “See, free nations are peaceful nations. Free nations don’t attack each other. Free nations don’t develop weapons of mass destruction.” —Milwaukee, Wis., Oct. 3, 2003

17. “The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” —State of the Union Address, Jan. 28, 2003, making a claim that administration officials knew at the time to be false

16. “In Iraq, no doubt about it, it’s tough. It’s hard work. It’s incredibly hard.” —repeating the phrases “hard work,” “working hard,” “hard choices,” and other “hard”-based verbiage 22 times in his first debate with Sen. John Kerry

15. “The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him.” —Washington, D.C., Sept. 13, 2001

14. “I don’t know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don’t care. It’s not that important. It’s not our priority.” —Washington, D.C., March 13, 2002

13. “But all in all, it’s been a fabulous year for Laura and me.” —summing up his first year in office, three months after the 9/11 attacks, Washington, D.C., Dec. 20, 2001

12. “I try to go for longer runs, but it’s tough around here at the White House on the outdoor track. It’s sad that I can’t run longer. It’s one of the saddest things about the presidency.” —interview with “Runners World,” Aug. 2002

11. “Can we win? I don’t think you can win it.” —after being asked whether the war on terror was winnable, “Today” show interview, Aug. 30, 2004

10. “I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.” —Washington, D.C. June 18, 2002

9. “I trust God speaks through me. Without that, I couldn’t do my job.” —to a group of Amish he met with privately, July 9, 2004

8. “Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed.” —speaking underneath a “Mission Accomplished” banner aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, May 1, 2003

7. “We found the weapons of mass destruction. We found biological laboratories … And we’ll find more weapons as time goes on. But for those who say we haven’t found the banned manufacturing devices or banned weapons, they’re wrong, we found them.” —Washington, D.C., May 30, 2003

6. “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere!” —President George W. Bush, joking about his administration’s failure to find WMDs in Iraq as he narrated a comic slideshow during the Radio & TV Correspondents’ Association dinner, Washington, D.C., March 24, 2004

5. “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.” —Washington, D.C., Dec. 19, 2000

4. “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.” —Nashville, Tenn., Sept. 17, 2002 (Watch video)

3. “Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB-GYNs aren’t able to practice their love with women all across this country.” —Poplar Bluff, Mo., Sept. 6, 2004 (Watch video)

2. “Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we.” —Washington, D.C., Aug. 5, 2004 (Watch video)

1. “My answer is bring them on.” —on Iraqi insurgents attacking U.S. forces, Washington, D.C., July 3, 2003

White man arrested over $50 billion fraud

Nothing new on Wall Street.…He’ll be out in no time.

Bernie Madoff, a former chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, has been arrested and charged with running a multi-billion dollar hedge fund swindle in New York.

Mr Madoff is alleged to have operated the scheme through his hedge fund business, which was separate from his better-known market-making business, Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities (BMIS).

Mr Madoff told senior employees of his firm on Wednesday that “it’s all just one big lie” and that he was “finished”, according to a criminal complaint filed on Thursday night by the US Attorney’s office and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).

He allegedly went on to say that the business was “a giant Ponzi scheme” – a reference to Charles Ponzi, one of the greatest swindlers in US history – and estimated that the scheme had lost investors $50bn over many years – which would make the hedge fund one of the biggest frauds in history.

“There is no innocent explanation,” Mr Madoff said, according to the criminal complaint. He told the agents that it was all his fault, and that he “paid investors with money that wasn’t there”, according to the complaint.

He allegedly told his employees that he had, for years, been paying returns to certain investors out of the cash received from other investors.

Mr Madoff, 70, was charged with a single count of securities fraud and faces up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $5m if found guilty.

The criminal complaint was accompanied by a separate civil lawsuit filed by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which accuses Mr Madoff of defrauding clients of his firm and seeks emergency relief for the victims.

“Our complaint alleges a stunning fraud – both in terms of scope and duration. We are moving quickly and decisively to stop the scheme and protect the remaining assets for investors,” said Scott Friestad, the SEC’s deputy enforcer.

The complaint details that as of Jan 7, 2008, Madoff’s investment advisory business had assets of $17.1bn, serving up to 25 clients.

Although Mr Madoff is thought to have few direct British links, he did open a London office in 1983, with Madoff Securities International becoming one of the first American members of the London Stock Exchange.

Stephen Raven, chief executive of Madoff Securities International said: “We only became aware overnight of the news relating to our Chairman, Bernard Madoff. Our business in London is not in any way part of Bernard L Madoff Investment Securities LLC. His major shareholding in our firm is a personal investment. Our business activities are not involved in any way with the US asset management company with which the reported allegations appear to be concerned. We do not have any further information beyond what is already in the public domain.”

In 2000, his market-making business BMIS partnered with Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch to the form the new Primex Trading platform, one of the early rival electronic exchanges to the main bourses which eventually fell by the wayside following a partnership with NASDAQ.

BMIS is also credited with ending the old practice of quoting New York Stock Exchange-listed securities in eighths of a dollar in 1997, instead listing them in sixteenths.

Mr Madoff began BMIS with just $5,000 of savings from jobs lifeguarding at Rockaway Beach and installing sprinkler systems.

The firm grew to become a leading market maker, with brother Peter, nephew Charles, niece Shana, and sons Mark and Andrew all involved in the business at some stage in recent years.

His firm’s website claims that BMIS ranks among the top one per cent of US securities firms, and states that “clients know Bernard Madoff has a personal interest in maintaining… high ethical standards.”

Mr Madoff’s lawyer, Dan Horwitz, called his client “a person of integrity” and said he intends to fight the charge. “We will fight to get through this unfortunate set of events.” His client was released on a $10m bond secured by his New York apartment.

Great White men in history : Jesse Helms

Announcing our latest category.

Jesse Alexander Helms, Jr., October 18, 1921 – July 4, 2008.  Sportswriter and reporter, the (Raleigh, NC) News & Observer;  U.S. Navy recruiter; assistant city editor and city editor, the Raleigh (NC) Times; Administrative Assistant to Senator Willis Smith (D-NC); radio commentator, WBCT in Roanoke Rapids and WRAL in Raleigh, NC; U.S. Senator from North Carolina, Republican (News & Observer timeline).

In his Own Words:

I’m so old-fashioned I believe in horse whipping.” — The News & Observer, during a debate in 1991 on an AIDS-related amendment.

“White people, wake up before it is too late. Do you want Negroes working beside you, your wife and your daughters, in your mills and factories?” –  Ad Helms created for the 1950 Senate campaign of North Carolina Republican candidate Willis Smith.

“The Negro cannot count forever on the kind of restraint that’s thus far left him free to clog the streets, disrupt traffic, and interfere with other men’s rights.”  — WRAL commentary, 1963.

“The nation has been hypnotized by the swaying and gesturing of the watusi and the frug.” —WRAL Viewpoint, 1966

“Jesse Helms was a kind, decent and humble man and a passionate defender of what he called ‘the Miracle of America.’ So it is fitting that this great patriot left us on the Fourth of July.” — George W. Bush, President of the United States of America.