Monday, March 13, 2006
Claude Allen: Smooth Criminal
I like to try to keep up with the rogue’s gallery in the Bush administration, but I’ll admit that I had never heard of Claude Allen until yesterday when I was reading the Sunday paper and saw that a former high ranking administration official had been arrested for what amounts to shoplifting at Kmart. They had a picture of Bush, Karl Rove and some black guy I had never seen. Being damn near brilliant like Columbo, I figured out the black guy was Mr. Claude Allen.
For those of you like me who weren’t too familiar with the man, here is some of his background. In 1984 he was the campaign spokesman for Senator Jesse Helms (yeah that Jesse Helms). He attacked Helms’ opponent by saying he had links to “queers”. He later defended that statement by saying he only meant to say they were “odd”. Later in his career he was the Secretary of the Virginia Department of Health and Human Services. He once kept Medicaid funds from an impoverished rape victim who wanted an abortion. He was named Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services by Bush to keep an eye on the then Secretary of the department, Tommy Thompson because he was thought to be a “moderate”. Bush nominated him to be a federal judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was thought to be too inexperienced and too politically extreme to be on the court and the Senate Democrats were able to block his nomination. In January this year, Bush appointed him his top domestic policy advisor at the White House, making him the highest ranking black at the White House, (pushing the cook to the number two slot). Claude Allen was considered the next Clarence Thomas by his right wing masters, but then the niggah screwed up.
On January 2, Allen was detained by security at Kmart when they observed him taking some items off the store shelve, taking them to the store return desk for a refund, and producing a receipt for the items. After the incident Allen informed the White House it was just a misunderstanding. On February 9 he resigned so he could spend “more time with his family”. After an investigation by the Gaithersburg Maryland police, Allen was charged on March 9 with returning more the $5,000 worth of merchandise he did not buy. Here’s his scheme: he would go to Target and Hecht’s stores, he’d purchase an item, take it to his car, return to the store, select the same item, take it to the counter and get a refund based on the receipt for the merchandise in his car. It’s a refund scheme, just another variation of shoplifting.
So here’s my question, with all the big time stealing the crooks in the Bush administration are doing, why would Allen instead of receiving kick backs from Halliburton or Dubai, be shoplifting at his local neighborhood Kmart? Was Target too “upscale” for him? Why didn’t his buddies at the White House cut him in for his take, do they segregate their crimes over there. White folks get to rip off the public treasury while the colored folks have to rip off the local Kmart. So I guess if you see Condoleezza at Wal-Mart, watch her closely.
It’s just another example how warped these right wing Christian conservatives are. I think these people think being a member of the body of Christ is like being in the mob. They steal, lie and do all sorts of morally repugnant acts and think they are protected by the “big guy upstairs”. It seems the black members of this group are the most warped. I guess when you actively conspire to destroy your own people; it must really fuck with your head. On a daily basis you work with people who treat you okay because “you’re not like those other ones.” Too prove that you aren’t like those other niggahs, you take positions more extreme than your white counterparts. You provide them the cover they need to be as racist as they want to be. You’re their chief apologist. Seeing all the vile stuff they do to everyone who isn’t a white Christian male has to eat at you. So you end up having Condoleezza shopping for shoes and going to Broadway plays while New Orleans drowned, some character named Vernon Robinson happily calling himself the black Jesse Helms and of course Claude Allen shoplifting. I guess when they sold their souls to the devil; they didn’t read in the fine print, that he’ll take your sanity too.
For those of you like me who weren’t too familiar with the man, here is some of his background. In 1984 he was the campaign spokesman for Senator Jesse Helms (yeah that Jesse Helms). He attacked Helms’ opponent by saying he had links to “queers”. He later defended that statement by saying he only meant to say they were “odd”. Later in his career he was the Secretary of the Virginia Department of Health and Human Services. He once kept Medicaid funds from an impoverished rape victim who wanted an abortion. He was named Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services by Bush to keep an eye on the then Secretary of the department, Tommy Thompson because he was thought to be a “moderate”. Bush nominated him to be a federal judge on the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. He was thought to be too inexperienced and too politically extreme to be on the court and the Senate Democrats were able to block his nomination. In January this year, Bush appointed him his top domestic policy advisor at the White House, making him the highest ranking black at the White House, (pushing the cook to the number two slot). Claude Allen was considered the next Clarence Thomas by his right wing masters, but then the niggah screwed up.
On January 2, Allen was detained by security at Kmart when they observed him taking some items off the store shelve, taking them to the store return desk for a refund, and producing a receipt for the items. After the incident Allen informed the White House it was just a misunderstanding. On February 9 he resigned so he could spend “more time with his family”. After an investigation by the Gaithersburg Maryland police, Allen was charged on March 9 with returning more the $5,000 worth of merchandise he did not buy. Here’s his scheme: he would go to Target and Hecht’s stores, he’d purchase an item, take it to his car, return to the store, select the same item, take it to the counter and get a refund based on the receipt for the merchandise in his car. It’s a refund scheme, just another variation of shoplifting.
So here’s my question, with all the big time stealing the crooks in the Bush administration are doing, why would Allen instead of receiving kick backs from Halliburton or Dubai, be shoplifting at his local neighborhood Kmart? Was Target too “upscale” for him? Why didn’t his buddies at the White House cut him in for his take, do they segregate their crimes over there. White folks get to rip off the public treasury while the colored folks have to rip off the local Kmart. So I guess if you see Condoleezza at Wal-Mart, watch her closely.
It’s just another example how warped these right wing Christian conservatives are. I think these people think being a member of the body of Christ is like being in the mob. They steal, lie and do all sorts of morally repugnant acts and think they are protected by the “big guy upstairs”. It seems the black members of this group are the most warped. I guess when you actively conspire to destroy your own people; it must really fuck with your head. On a daily basis you work with people who treat you okay because “you’re not like those other ones.” Too prove that you aren’t like those other niggahs, you take positions more extreme than your white counterparts. You provide them the cover they need to be as racist as they want to be. You’re their chief apologist. Seeing all the vile stuff they do to everyone who isn’t a white Christian male has to eat at you. So you end up having Condoleezza shopping for shoes and going to Broadway plays while New Orleans drowned, some character named Vernon Robinson happily calling himself the black Jesse Helms and of course Claude Allen shoplifting. I guess when they sold their souls to the devil; they didn’t read in the fine print, that he’ll take your sanity too.
