Jesse Jackson--International Shake-Down Artist

No longer content shaking down American corporations to pay reparations for the long dead African slave trade (a business that was legal at the time) even though the current company did not exist at the time, but had bought so some successor company somewhere along the line, Jesse Jackson has taken his reparations show across the Atlantic.

After bullying London's mayor into apologizing for his city's role in the transatlantic slave trade more than two centuries ago, Jesse Jackson did what he does best - demand money.

At Thursday's memorial commemorating the 200th anniversary of the abolition of England's slave trade, Mayor Ken Livingstone was literally brought to tears as he apologized "on behalf of London and its institutions" for their role in ferrying human cargo to the New World.

If you've been paying attention to this charlatan's game, it won't shock you that the Guardian reported that "Jackson walked over and placed his arm around the mayor" as he delivered his wet-eyed contrition for the acts of those long dead before his great-grandfather was ever born.

Afterwards, in his classic mumbo-jumbo non-sequitur rhyme-speak, the man who put Hymie-town on the map praised Livingstone for breaking "important ground." A Kumbaya moment, indeed -- of course he then snatched the opportunity to demand that apologetic Londoners now break into their wallets and pay reparations for the sins of a few of their great-great-grandfathers.

Astounding - having thus far failed to bring his own country to its knees with similar liberal-guilt-exploiting strong-arm tactics (okay -- he's still working on it), the civil rights huckster now charges that modern Britain was also built on the ill-gotten gains of his oppressed people and that,

"We must not speak of the slave trade and slavery in past tense terms."

Of course not - this deplorable injustice, 200 years banned in Britain and 144 so in America, still delivers quite the flesh for leeches feeding on the blood and guts of their own people, doesn't it Jessie? After all, it pays for your homes, your cars, your travel and your other excesses, does it not?

I think I will refer to the slave trade in the past tense because, well it happened in the past.

Jesse Jackson knows no boundaries when it comes to this subject and is not only content to make a living off of dredging up the past, he seems to revel in it. I am not one to say we should ignore the past, indeed we must study it. But in studying the past, there is no need to relive the past. Jesse Jackson may be descended from slaves (I don't know that he is or is not), but that does not give him the right nor the station to keep thrusting slavery, or more accurately reparations, in our face. At this point, there is no way that reparations can be made with any certainty and barring that certainty, what can we do.

This nation has acknowledged its role in the dispicable practice and several states have "apologized" for it, a practrice that sets the stage for charlatans like Jackson to demand money. After all, if you admit you did something wrong, aren't you supposed to pay for that wrong? But here is the thing, no one alive now, including Jesse Jackson, played any role, either than of seller, buyer or slave, of the slave trade, so must I atone for all the sins of my great, great grandfather, a man I never met, never knew and for all I know, never engages in the slave trade.