[mafree]

The deal is Blacks in congress get paid off and keeps their mouths shut about Africa, right?

Unfortunately, you aren't far off the mark here.

[LarryLied]

I admit I don't know the extent of the sellout but it is there. In 2000, Jesse Jackson Jr teamed up with Pat Buchanan to try to keep duties on African textiles high. Big money involved in this. Every African country was against the plan even though it would have given $700 million a year in aid to Africa. They wanted work and trade, not handouts. There is no reason Africa cannot have a Hong Kong, one country which shows the others what free trade and a rule of law can do. Liberia would be idea. Long history with the USA, a magnet for ecotourism, a magnet for small traders(the hardwood Liberians harvest is among the best in the world). But that can't happen when outsiders are trading AK-47s and rocket propelled grenades for diamonds and lumber.