Well, they are all being sued for slave reparations.

Bob Brown, a former Black Panther and co-director of Pan-African Roots, filed a 183-page class-action lawsuit yesterday, claiming that 71 defendants owe reparations for slavery.

The suit names the king of Spain, the queen of England, the pontiff, President Bush and Jaques Chirac; the governors of Illinois, Virginia, Louisiana and Texas; nine ports; several major sugar, gun, tobacco and railroad companies; many, many banks and even Bacardi Rum.

Newsmax reports that the rocket scientists at the Chicago Tribune agree that the lawsuit will be "difficult" to win, considering that slavery was legal, all the slaves and slave owners have long since died, and no one mentioned in the lawsuit ever owned slaves.

For the record, slavery was abolished by the Thirteenth Amendment, in 1865.