You can read the entire December 5, 199 Charley Reese article, titled as "Great-grandsons shouldn't have to pay for someone else's sins" at http://orlandosentinel.com/opinion/columnists/reese/120599_reese 05_21.htm. and I recommend you do so. It addresses itself mostly to Black reparations.
I am only selecting some meaningful tidbits for today's ZGram pertaining to what is of interest to us:
<start>
Reese:
"I'm against reparations in principle, especially those that are sought 50 to 100 years after the fact. I don't believe in making great- grandsons pay for someone else's sins."
"No human is affected by the history of his ancestors. Our history starts the day of our birth. What happens to us in our time affects us; what happened before we were born to other people we don't even know does not."
"This is carrying the blame game too far, and naturally, in lawsuit- happy, anything-for-a-buck America, it all boils down to gimme something."
"Some Americans who were prisoners of war 54 years ago have decided to sue Japan. And practically everybody seems to think that it's open season on Swiss banks and the German Treasury."
"If I were German, I would say to the whole world: 54 years and $60 billion in reparations are enough. (Zundelsite: Actually, it is almost twice that much...) The bank is closed. If you were hurt by somebody long since dead in the name of a government destroyed 54 years ago, well, tough luck."
"You should have sued sooner. The current generation of Germans is innocent and doesn't owe anyone in the world one thin mark. Ditto for the current generation of Japanese."
"Greed, in my book, is one of the more disgusting vices. It causes people to put a dollar price on the lives of their loved ones and even to negotiate that price. How low can you go?"
Naturally, in our effeminate country, people love the lawsuit as much as they love the lottery and the slot machine, and they abhor and fear the idea of real justice. Money has become the ultimate corrupter of Americans, more powerful than sex or drugs."
"Nevertheless, the past should not be used as a money-making or, I should say, money-extorting opportunity."
"If that's all we learned -- that the past can be exploited for present gain -- then we are hardly worthy of the present and no doubt have a bleak future."
=====
Thought for the Day:
"The professional sufferers are at it again. If each group in the world which has, in any way, been mistreated by another group in the last 10,000 years will please step forward and file your claims, then the entire world can get on with suing the entire rest of the world. Oh, yes, the Palestinians have priority in the line..."
(Letter to the Zundelsite)