EDITORIAL - To commemorate the 40 year anniversary of the Civil Rights Act numerous black leaders, politicians, and celebrities gathered in what seemed less like a celebration and more like a reunion of the Black Panthers.

With some exception: the Black Panthers were slightly more reasonable. If the anger emanating from the speaking stage seemed less like blissful hope for the future and more like the same old from the past, it doesn't take much to figure out why.

Much in the same way that Jihadists view all of life through the lens of the 14th century, liberals view all of life from the voting booths of the 1960's, issuing vague warnings that, if the act were to expire, blacks everywhere would be riding in the back of busses and being steered away from the whites-only water fountains. And if you had any hope that the recent election would slow down the cries that ?Bush Stole the Election,? you would not only be wrong, but should probably expect that one to be fresh in 35 years, too.

Of course this isn?t to say that racism and racial problems do not still exist. It was not all that long ago that Democratic Senator Robert Byrd was recruiting for the Klan, Democrat Eugene ?Bull? Connor was clubbing blacks in the streets of Alabama, and Democratic Senator Al Gore Sr. was filibustering the Civil Rights Act. It almost seems as if it were yesterday that Al Sharpton were helping to incite riots against white policemen after advancing the lies of Tawana Brawley.

Noticeably absent from the speakers list were black conservatives, blacks with real jobs, and black Reverends who don?t cheat on their wives and have kids out of wedlock. Yeah, here is your representation: That guy who gave us the song ?Momma Look-A Boo Boo.? That entertainer, Henry Belafonte, related Bush and his fellow ?black tyrants? to - surprise - the Nazis. One might think that Condoleezza Rice, the most powerful black woman in the United States, if not the world, would at least be able to conjure up even a minute amount of respect from those people who claim to support and encourage black success. Or, at least, to not be compared to Hitler.

If anyone knew what life was like during the 1960's it was Dr. Rice who was living in Birmingham Alabama during the Bull Connor days and would be nearing college graduation at the age that most of her white counterparts were nearing high school graduation. And all this without ever offering a public rendition of ?We Shall Overcome.? Soon she was on her way to becoming Provost at Stanford University and eventually the Secretary of State. Her downfall? Oh yeah, she?s a Republican. No wait, just another ?tyrant.? I guess it?s all the same anyway.

Comedian Dick Gregory remembered the days when he saw people die for the right to vote. He said that it was important ?to see that they did not die in vain. We were scared back then. We are not scared anymore.? Well that?s good news. Though it is still kind of vague about what it is exactly that blacks are suppose to be fearing. I heard that the Klan was going to start a four-man counter-rally but Robert Byrd didn?t want to go to the dry-cleaners this week. In reality, the act could probably expire tomorrow and no person of average existence (you know, normal people) would even realize it.
Without all of these race-scares and marches for the right to vote the Jesse Jackson?s and Al Sharpton?s of the world would be circling ads in the Classifieds. Without alleged racism, or supposed black disenfranchisement, and by ensuring us a return to the days of voting tests these black ?leaders? would probably be in their rightful place selling cheap shoes at K-Mart instead of inciting riots. Did last weeks march enable one more child to read or help one more family get out of poverty?

The Civil Rights movement is essentially a big business. Just another Gas Station, Supermarket, or better yet, a Halliburton. Instead of bread the sell fear. The focus group is minorities. And their end-game is power and money. By convincing their target group that without them fighting for blacks all civil rights would be stolen by insidious Republicans, they get their cash flow going. Sadly, they are really good at it, and when proven wrong (oh say, Tawana Brawley ) they are quickly forgiven and people continue to buy their product. In retrospect I change my mind, Jackson and Sharpton would probably be selling expensive shoes.

Liberals have done a lot of great things since ?taking over? for the black community. The inner-cities are in disarray where blacks rank inexcusably high as a whole in rates of violence, poverty, and divorce. The high school drop-out and teenage pregnancy rates are fatal. These problems are not rooted in the Civil Rights act expiring in 2 years. Nor are these problems rooted in the presence of a Confederate Flag in a building that most people will never see. The real problems are being ignored by the same people who have claimed, for 40 years, to be solving them. I guess real solutions don?t grab the headlines. They must be bad for business.