oyuki

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Render Unto Ceaser?

Looking at this story from the Associated Press, the Rev. Al Sharpton does not follow that injunction of Christ's.
Sharpton's own debts include $365,558 owed in New York City income tax and $931,397 in unpaid federal income tax, according to a lien filed by the Internal Revenue Service last spring. His for-profit company, Rev. Al Communications, owes the state another $175,962 in delinquent taxes.

If that is not enough, Sharpton has other problems in his not for profit organization. Seems they grew too quick to handle the influx of donations as the article explains.
Charlie King, the organization's interim executive director, said both Sharpton and the group he leads were unprepared for their rise in stature in recent years and had trouble dealing with big jumps in donations and income.

Where have I heard that kind of excuse before? Oh right in the squabble of Cindy Sheehan's Crawford Peace House and how they lost their name to a former member because they fell behind in reporting their activities and expenses to the state of Texas.

If this was Sharpton's only failing, failing to pay taxes like Wesley Snipes; I probably would not get too excited. Except Al Sharpton bills himself as a civil rights leader in the mold of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Just look at his recent arrest in New York. As such he is supposed to have at least a glimmer of moral authority, like Ceaser's wife he must be above reproach.

And Sharpton's past makes it well nigh impossible to make this man or his actions above reproach. Al has been found guilty of defamation in the past. What is defamation? Fancy term for bearing false witness against someone else. Think that falls under the Ninth Commandment. When did this happen you may ask? When Sharpton and two associates in press conferences accused prosecutor Steven Pagones of being one of the men who rape Tawana Brawley in 1987 during her 'abduction' that was proven to be a hoax. The jury found the three men guilty of 10 out of 22 counts brought in the lawsuit.

Al Sharpton should not be viewed as any kind of 'civic' leader. He is a rabble-rouser intent on serving his own needs, his own aggrandizement at the expense of people he claims to be representing. He seems to be a malicious Pied Piper of Hate and not someone to embrace. But there are those out there who do embrace him to serve their own selfish needs and he has tried to run for President of the United States in the past under the Democrat Party banner. There are even people trying to recruit him for the 2008 election cycle. As if the Democrats need more fireworks for Denver. But I bet it improves Sharpton's view of himself even as he is arrested in another publicity stunt.

"No greater love Sharpton has than he has for himself." Think that sums it up.

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