Martin Luther King, Jr.

Today the nation pauses to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Always up for a photo-op, Democrats gather to hear Biden beat the dead horse of voting rights* and ignore that MLK was a Christian, a Republican and didn't lead riots in the street. King didn't march for equity, but equality. He had his battles with police, but I doubt he would support defunding them and hurting minority communities. He had his battles with the FBI and struggled with a bureaucratic, intrusive federal government, just as we do today. He would be thrilled with the huge advances Blacks made during the Trump administration. In fact, the MLK of the 1960s would probably not support the goals and mission of the Democrat party of 2023.

* Voter turn out for blacks was higher than whites in 2008 and 2012--there is no voting rights problem when there is someone they want to vote for. Biden doesn't attract them.

Speaking of photos, I tend to agree with those who are objecting to the new statue unveiled in Boston. Some say it's pornographic, including children and his relatives. "This is awful,” the British rapper and podcaster Zuby added in a tweet."

Happy July 4th!

"America is essentially a dream. It is a dream of a land where men of all races, of all nationalities, and of all creeds, can live together as brothers. The substance of the dream is expressed in these sublime words, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.'

"Now, we notice in the very beginning that at the center of this dream is an amazing universalism. It does not say some men, but it says all men. It does not say all white men, but it says all men, which includes black men…

"It says that each individual has certain inherent rights that are neither derived from or conferred by the state. They are gifts from the hands of the almighty God. Very seldom, if ever, in the history of the world has a socio-political document expressed in such profound, eloquent, and unequivocal language, the dignity and the worth of human personality."

July 4, 1965 Martin Luther King, Jr.

Letter to a promoter for an interview

As my friends and family know, I've been writing this blog for almost 20 years (began October 2003). That's how I met some nice people whom I now follow on Facebook. So, I get offers to review books and do interviews. I did review some books, but I don't anymore, and have republished some canned interviews. Sometimes I get snarky and write back my opinions. I have no idea if anyone reads them. The one I received on Monday, January 17, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day wanted to let me know that young people aren't educated about MLK Jr. because "only 81%" knew about his "I've got a dream speech," and "only 82%" knew about the March on Washington. I think that's fantastic--they probably don't know the year their parents were born, or what happened on July 4. So, here's my response.

Dear XXXX

You’re not making a good case. Considering how LITTLE anyone, let alone youth, know about our history, if 81% know about the “I have a dream speech,” that’s fantastic! I know some who graduated from high school in 1986. One day I asked them a fairly simple question, "Which came first WWII or Vietnam War?" and they didn’t know! That’s the level of history education in our country, and we live in a great school district with high scores. What makes you think this is a lack of resources? I’ve seen Martin Luther’s statue on the internet identified as Martin Luther King! Our young people may know who King is but have never heard of Martin Luther. How many know Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican? Or that there were over 200 bills in Congress to fight lynching, and Democrats voted against all of them? You’ve got some buzz words in this message that tell your mission. . . “democratizing education,” “equal access,” “cause for equality,” “diverse backgrounds.” If you need to know how ignorant U.S. youth are, watch some of the Prager U videos or the Will Witt interviews on college campuses, “What is a conservative?” https://youtu.be/jVJO1IETjC8 Also notice how inarticulate the students are—except for the one or two who can define conservatism.

Also, MLK Day was the day I got your message—how would I do an interview BEFORE today?

MIT priest loses job because he doesn’t follow BLM dogma

"In a blog post and an email to [MIT] students published at the beginning of June, [Fr. Daniel] Moloney spoke out about the errors of the new approach to fighting racism — dividing people, accusing them of prejudice, and canceling those who disobey — and called instead for a Christian path of charity and solidarity." You know, like MLK.

He also committed the sin of pointing out there was not yet evidence that Chauvin was motivated by racism in the death of Floyd. And as we all have discovered after weeks of rioting, all that is needed is a cell phone video to convict, not constitutional rights.

An official of MIT objected to this sort of "hate" speech, and that Maloney didn't bow to the BLM dogma, so the Archdiocese of Boston didn't back him and asked for his resignation.

I think statues of Martin Luther King, Jr. will be next.

https://spectator.org/father-moloney-mit-george-floyd-racism-boston/

MLK and guns on January 20

Despite the violent threats he received every single day, Martin Luther King, Jr. was denied a gun permit. Government didn't agree he needed one, and local law enforcement told him to rely on THEIR provisions for safety, instead. (Glenn Beck) How appropriate that Virginians gathered peacefully and without incident with the collegiality of a Trump rally to protest Governor Northam's illegal grab for their guns and right to protect themselves on the day we celebrate MLK.

Today we celebrate a great Republican, Martin Luther King, Jr.

He would be embarrassed at how Democrats have maligned his martyrdom with their Marxism.

“A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.”

Today he would be condemned for using the word, "men" since it isn't diverse and implies biology isn't pliable.

Today he would be condemned for even hinting that we have a nation, because nations have borders.

Today he would be condemned for bringing up installment plan because that implies rich and poor and capitalism.

Today the Leftists would need to tear down his statues and rename those streets and hi-ways based on his words.

The face of 2020

These past few days through the magic of the twisted media and the ocean of hate on twitter and FB we have seen the 2020 election in the faces of a bunch of Catholic kids waiting for a bus to take them to March for Life in Washington DC. Hate for the unborn and the people trying to save them, and hate for our president--that's all the Democrats have. All you have to do is tell the truth, and their lies will crumble. Be Martin Luther King, Jr. for our time.

John Rawls vs. Martin Luther King, Jr.

John Rawls, not Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929-1968), is the theorist/philosopher/author who most defines liberalism in the U.S. today.  President Clinton, just a decade after King's death, awarded Rawls (1921-2002) the National Humanities Medal saying he had been the most dominant figure in 40 years in shaping American thought.  In doing so, he moved us forever from King's vision of a community of love based on reconciliation, forgiveness, repentance and friendship to a "justice is fairness," but fairness as defined by Rawls, an atheist, and his followers without considering King's Bible based justice. Rawls believed that if we have consensus, and we can agree to disagree about life’s most fundamental questions, then hatred, bigotry, violence, persecution, and intolerance will be eliminated. As Dr. Phil would say, "How's that working out for you?" We've been at war the entire eight years of the Obama administration and most of the younger Bush administration. We've got riots, burning down cities, lack of participation in the labor force, ballooning student debt, regulations holding back job growth,  massive protests, laws about using bathrooms and locker rooms, and laws that put bakers and florists out of business for their religious beliefs. Tolerance, fairness, consensus and principles are just dictionary words to be learned so we can read an old history book.

"Today, Rawls’s theory—which defends the principles of egalitarianism, toleration, consensus politics, and societal fairness—informs much of contemporary liberalism’s aspirations, constitutional interpretations, domestic policies, and public rhetoric. It is hardly an exaggeration to say that the principles behind such laws as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, are most thoroughly argued by John Rawls. Much the same can be said of the Supreme Court’s reference to the “evolving understanding of the meaning of equality” in the 2013 same-sex marriage case, U.S. v. Windsor. Rawls’s silent influence has been immense.

Rawls believes that by rethinking America’s first principles we can make our world better. The difficulty, as he sees it, is that American society is filled with many competing notions of the good life and therefore different views of justice. This, in turn, leads to conflict. Rawls’s resolution is to define a theory of justice upon which everyone could agree without having to give up their personal convictions about the good life."http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2014/08/john-rawls-theorist-of-modern-liberalism

So a man you've probably never heard of is influencing everything you think and do and the air you breath every day, and one you've learned about in school or watched on TV when he was alive has been all but forgotten.

Martin Luther King, Jr. isn't inclusive enough in Oregon

 Some students at the University of Oregon have a problem. They think the "I have a dream" speech isn't inclusive enough. Classic socialist/progressive mush brains. They skipped the history of the Soviet Union in the 1930s and China in the 1950s when they ate their own. They browse Wikipedia and think they know everything.

 http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/02/the-college-where-martin-luther-king-is-problematic.html
 

"Let’s review King’s quote, while we’re at it: “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

It’s true, the quote makes no reference to other kinds of diversity, like gender or sexual orientation or disability status. But then again, King wasn’t so much celebrating diversity as he was championing tolerance and equal treatment for all people, regardless of categorization. King’s point was that everyone deserves the same rights as everyone else—implicitly, that includes people of varying genders, orientations, etc.

No wonder college students are uncomfortable with the quote: They worship categorization."

You can listen to the actual songs of Selma

Knowing how bulky old tape recorders were (I could hardly carry mine at all), I’m amazed this man could record these songs.

http://www.smithsonian.com/smithsonian-institution/listen-freedom-songs-recorded-50-years-ago-during-march-selma-montgomery-180953904/

“Carl Benkert was a successful architectural interior designer from Detroit who had come down South in 1965 with a group of local clergy to take part and bear witness to the historic march for voting rights from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, for voting rights.

In addition to his camera, he brought a bulky, battery-operated reel-to-reel tape recorder to capture the history all around him, in speech but also in song.”

Selma, nominated for best picture, but Rev. Al isn’t happy

I've been reading some reviews of Selma the movie, the latest Al Sharpton cause for a shakedown of Hollywood proposing a quota system for movie awards, which the very leftist industry awards itself. Four of the main actors are British as is the screen writer, throughout the movie racist Democrats are battled including LBJ a Democrat icon, and it ends with a song that includes a reference to Ferguson, a paean to a man who was shot by a policeman after robbing and assaulting a store owner. So it closes with a reminder that after 50 years under Democrat control, blacks are still protesting and asking for justice while equating a man like Brown with Martin Luther King, Jr. What could go wrong, Rev. Sharpton.

Al Sharpton go away. No more shakedowns. The best way to prove The Oscar committee wrong is to make the movie a great success and associating your face and whines with Selma is not the way to do it. Democrats and liberals are probably not thrilled with the portrayal of LBJ in this movie, but that might make others look at what an obstructionist he was when Republicans were trying to pass civil rights legislation before the 1960s. http://www.thetowntalk.com/.../clarence-page.../21124347/

Martin Luther and his namesake

Martin Luther perhaps never saw an elephant, but he was very familiar with donkeys. He said that the old Adam is "the obstinate donkey, fixing for a fight," against whom the new man wages "constant battle."

When Michael King, Sr. a Baptist minister changed his name to Martin Luther King after the great reformer, his son Michael Jr. also changed his name and became Martin Luther King, Jr. They were Republicans. His friends and family continued to call him Mike.

Democrats were so oppressive to blacks in the South, using lynching to terrorize, they instituted the "Jim Crow" laws and resegregated the schools. In order to vote at all, many blacks became Republicans. The push for civil rights was done by the Republican party in the 40s and 50s, and was fought tooth and nail by the likes of powerful Democrats like Lyndon Johnson, LBJ. But when it became an opportunity to put them under the control of government, LBJ changed his tune with the Civil Rights Act, a Republican cause, and his "War on Poverty."

This lesson on black history will probably not be taught in the public schools this month.

Martin Luther King, Jr. - I Have a Dream

It seems that some leftists (Media Matters, Newscorpse) are unhappy that Glenn Beck is sponsoring a Restoring Honor gathering in Washington DC on August 28 because that's the anniversary (1963) of the Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream speech." I seriously doubt that anyone, especially Beck, knew this was a "sacred day" on which other events could never be held. There are wonderful and moving passages in this speech, about which everyone should be reminded. Especially it speaks to Americans who have something coming due to them that the government has taken away in the last 100 years of Progressivism, which would pretty much be Beck's audience.

"In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds.""

Our current administration is in the process of bankrupting this and the next several generations if we don't stop them. MLK quotes many writers and sources in this speech from Lincoln to Isaiah to America the Beautiful. But the promissory note passage is, I think, the most powerful, given our current situation. We're not only getting a bad check, but we're going to prison for trying to cash it.

It's not easy to get space in Washington to hold an event. In fact, they limit the port-a-potties according to the number of buses coming. So if you're using public transportation, bicycle or walking, don't drink too many fluids.

Washington DC was built in a drained swamp (these days we call them wet lands), and the swamp is attempting to reclaim the land.

American Rhetoric: Martin Luther King, Jr. - I Have a Dream