MLK Day, 2009

Some random brain droppings on a holiday Monday (for some, not me, unfortunately)........

1) This is kind of a double-witching hour day. First of all, today is Martin Luther King Day, so I wish the best to those who are off today and have ability to observe the holiday. And, 24 hours from now, the nation will witness the inauguration of the first African-American (or biracial, if you prefer) President. Regardless of whether you voted for the man or not, it is an historic occasion. I've said it before, but it bears repeating. I didn't voted for Obama. I don't like his proposed policies. I think that he will be the most anti-Israel President this country has seen since Eisenhower in the 1950s (yes, even more than Bush 41). That said, it is in ALL of our best interests' if he succeeds and is a good President. I hope that he does well and that my worst expectations of him are not met.

2) The Israeli offensive in Gaza seems to be winding down, and let's see if Israel met its goals:
i) Goal #1: Stopping the rocket and missile attacks. Goal NOT met. Rockets are still falling on Israel, and Israel's unilateral decision to just stop its offensive. Hamas can claim that Israel accomplished nothing except to "kill civilians" (more about that below).
ii) Goal #2: Recover Gilad Shalit. He's still a prisoner. Goal NOT met.
iii) Win the PR War: Israel is being accused by such "unbiased" observers as Human Rights Watch of using phosphorous weapons on human targets (a charge refuted by the International Red Cross, hardly a friend of Israel). Israel has once again been accused of using "Disproportionate Force" (a bogus charge, but one that resonates with the left, which feels that Israel should not be permitted to defend itself anyway). Goal NOT met.
iv) Eliminate Hamas' leadership: Goal PARTIALLY met. Even the most partisan supporter of Hamas has to admit that Hamas took a punishing blow. But, even the most ardent supporter of Israel has to admit that it was anything but a fatal blow. Ismail Haniyeh still lives. Khlaled al Meshaal still lives. While Israel took out several of Hamas' leaders, the main ones are still around.
v) Avoid "Civilian Casualties": The MSM is full of reports of dead children, dead civilians, but let's look at this realistically. The death toll on the Palestinian side after the three week offensive by Israel is between (by most counts) 1000 and 1500, of who many are Hamas terrorists, and this despite the overwhelming military superiority of the IDF and Hamas' clear strategy of launching missiles, rockets and mortars from civilian areas such as schools, hospitals, and houses. What was Israel to do, not respond (lefties out there, don't bother to respond. I already know what your answer is)? So, surprisingly, I'm going to say: Goal MET.
vi) Restore Israel's deterrence factor. In order to this, Israel needed to make Hamas understand that the price to be paid for launching rockets at Israel was too high. It didn't come remotely close to doing that. Goal NOT met.
vii) Be able to declare "victory" and avoid a repeat of the Lebanon War in 2006: As indicated above, missiles were still being launched at Israel at least as of yesterday, and Hamas will certainly keep working on missiles that will eventually be able to reach Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Israel needed to be able to achieve its goals, and I might give it credit on this had Israel just once actually told the world what those goals were. It didn't, and in a quirky war in which Hamas can declare victory merely by not losing, the public's read on what happened is going to be that Israel did not win. Goal NOT met.
So, the long and the short of this war is that while Israel fought differently than it did against Hezbollah in 2006, the end result is exactly the same, in my opinion. Israel did not restore the deterrence effect it lost back in the 1990s, and now the world sees a weakened and leaderless country which is ripe for the plucking. The way this war is ending, with Israel just doing the military equivalent of taking its ball and going home, can lead to no other impression (at least on my part).

3) The collective moaning in my area over yesterday's 32-25 loss by the Philadelphia Eagles in Arizona to the Cardinals (the Cardinals are going to the Super Bowl?????) is just beginning. After watching the game, it is pretty clear to me that the Cardinals were the better team yesterday. They were better prepared, especially in the first half, when the Cardinals raced out to a 24-6 halftime lead. The team showed some character in coming back to take a 25-24 lead, but when the chips were down and the defense needed to make a stop, it didn't. It gave up an 80-yard drive that took up half the fourth quarter. It had already blown a timeout earlier in the half (more of those same idiotic clock management issues that have plagued this team for years). So, with the team down by seven points, with a little less than three minutes left in the game, two timeouts (plus the two-minute warning) left, the ball was placed in the hands of the franchise quarterback, Donovan McNabb. He came up small--his passes were erratic and while the team got a couple of first downs, the drive stalled at midfield and the game was lost. Philadelphia has now played in five of the last eight NFC title games, and it has lost four of those games, with only the loss to the Rams in 2001 coming to a team that was arguably better than it.

4) In the AFC, the Pittsburgh Steelers showed the world how to get a job done. Their defense was fearsome and fearless, and they were deserving winners, 23-14, over the up-and-coming Baltimore Ravens. I don't think that the Pittsburgh can be stopped at this point, and in two weeks, the Steelers will collect their record sixth Super Bowl title. I don't even think that the game will be close. I can see a final score of 27-6, or something like that. As good as he is, Larry Fitzgerald will not get open against the Steelers' secondary the way he did yesterday against that of the Eagles. Kurt Warner will get snowed under by the Pittsburgh defensive line. The game has the potential to get ugly early, and the only chance I give Arizona is if it manages to generate some turnovers on defense.

So, it's racism again.....

Let's be honest about this. Is there a segment of the American population who will never vote for Barack Obama under any circumstances because he is Black? Absolutely. However many people that may be, it is too many. Of course, the flip side of that question, one that never seems to receive any attention at all, is why Obama has essentially completely locked up the African American vote, and no one at all is calling them racist for supporting Obama purely based on his race.

That said, I have another question: Why is is that for all of the cries of racism, it is only the left that seems to be obsessed with it: http://www.progressive.org/mag/comment1008.html. I have plenty of friends and acquaintances on both the left on the right, and it is inevitably those on the left who bring up the subject of race, who focus on it, and who preemptively blame their candidate's loss next month (as an FYI, I think that Obama is going to win, but that's neither here nor there) on racism. To me, this is a sign of a defective mind, one that cannot debate ideas, policies or candidates on their merits, so it must fall back on shrill, bitter claims that the adversary is evil. It's pathetic, frankly.

Once again, I'm a racist

The attacks grow ever more strident as Barack Obama supporters decry anyone who would dare vote against their candidate as being a racist: http://www.vindy.com/news/2008/sep/16/democrats-accuse-locals-of-being-racist-toward/. I'd love to say that this is an isolated incident, but the truth of the matter is that the very converse is true. I'm frankly sick of being told that there can be no reason to oppose Barack Obama's candidacy other than racism. It's wrong, and only people who can't argue intellectually with their adversaries would make this argument. So, why do Democrats keep doing it?

He can't be right..........can he?

I mean, if Barack Obama doesn't win in November, it HAS to be because of racism, doesn't it? There is NO other possible explation, is there? It couldn't possibly be because of policy differences, could it: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/kevin_ferris/20080914_Back_Channels__Don_t_cry_racism_if_Obama_loses.html. Hasn't anyone watched MSNBC? CNN? Read the New York Times? Washington Post? Los Angeles Times? Time? Newsweek? Chicago Tribune? If you have, then you know with 100% certainty that if Barack Obama loses it could only be because the United is filled with vile, racist, hate-filled people. And if he wins.....well...........it's in spite of that dark streak in American society.

I know that it must be true because the MSM told me that it was.

And there it is again

The race card, though played in a less strident tone by Dick Polman of the Philadelphia Inquirer: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/opinion/20080907_The_American_Debate__It_s_little_discussed__but_Obama_s_race_may_be_decider.html. Though Polman is quick to note that that people can be against Barack Obama based on policy issues, he can't help but come back to the same position that Slate's Jacob Weisberg maintained, which is that if Obama does in fact lose the election, it will inevitably be because of racism. This is the position that I said the left would take as soon as Obama became the presumptive (and now official) Democratic nominee for the Presidency. The straw man is being set up. Though I still see Obama winning, the Democrats have their scapegoat if he doesn't, and that scapegoat is you, me and everyone else in this (in their view) horribly racist country.

Left wing talking points 101

You can always count on the left for calm, rational discussion of national issues. For example, take this Op-Ed from Philadelphia Daily News columnist Fatima Ali, in which she promises a race and class war if John McCain is elected President: http://www.philly.com/dailynews/opinion/20080902_Fatimah_Ali__We_need_Obama__not_4_more_years_of_George_Bush.html. The thing is, I believe her. The left in this country has invested so much emotion (and not enough thought) in getting Barack Obama elected that if he DOESN'T win, it will vent its frustration out somehow, and riots are as likely as any possible outcome of an Obama defeat. If you thought that the left was better after the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections, you ain't seen nothin' yet, as the cliche goes.

Followup to the "It's official: I'm a racist" blog entry

I had a great response from someone I know personally to this blog entry, and I thought that it was so great, it deserved its own entry. Here it is, unaltered except for the removal of names:

I know you know I am an African American, but the others on your distribution list may not. I wanted to preface my remarks with that qualifier because I don't want anyone to accuse me of having a white sheet over my head. Now that we have dispensed with that...

Weisberg is so astoundingly and insultingly wrong its surreal. What he fails to realize is that while some may reject Obama based on the color of his skin, to state unequivocally that would be the only reason for his defeat shows the kind of NYC/DC/LA/SanFran filter through which he sees the world.

It couldn't possibly be that Obama paper thin resume hardly qualifies him for leader of the US Senate let along leader of the free world. He likes to talk about his 'judgment' being a better attribute than 'experience'. Let's take a gander at that judgment, shall we? Do the names Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright and Tony Rezko ring a bell? How about being the only state senator in the IL Senate to stand up and oppose the'Baby Born Alive' bill? Regardless of your position on abortion, his position is to the left of the far left. Need I go on? I suspect those on this distribution list are sharp enough to get the point.

This is the second time Weisberg got under my skin. I believe this is the same guy who basically called Mitt Romney mentally unfit to serve as president because he is a member of the LDS Church. While I dont share Romney's faith, to question if a former CEO of one of the most successful venture capital firms in the country, wildly successful Olympic Games CEO, Harvard MBA and former Gov of MA is mentally fit to serve is the height of arrogance.

Weisberg is one of these far lefties who has so much assumed guilt over the plight of African Americans, that he wants to soothe his conscience by fawning over Barack Hussein Obama. Yes, I used his full name-sue me.

I might raise an eyebrow or two with this closing comment. I have never supported affirmative action/quotas before and I don't think we should be doing so to hire the CEO of the USA because it will make us feel better about slavery. This guy has never run anything larger than his Senate staff and we want to give hm the keys to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave? I hope we are smarter than geniuses like Weisberg.

It's official: I'm a racist

I've waited for the left (not just the Angry Left, but ALL leftists) to make this argument, and now here it is: If you vote against Barack Obama in November, there can be NO other reason to do so other than that you are a racist: http://www.slate.com/id/2198397/. As unsurprising as this argument is, it is no less depressing and disheartening to find that it is being made.

I've often thought that the Left thrived on appealing to humanity's worst instincts. Now, it is perfectly clear that it expects the worst of people, too.......

The "R" word is ON the table

It doesn't take any great leap of the imagination to figure out that a President Obama would support the concept of paying reparations for slavery: http://starbulletin.com/2008/07/28/news/story05.html. I wasn't born here, and I'm not African American. I can't pretend to understand the racism that any of them may have experienced. I will ask this, though. What will reparations achieve? Can ANYONE answer that question?

Idiocy in Big "D"

An African-American Dallas city councilman has objected to a white colleague's use of the term "Black Hole", as did another African-American colleague, believing it to be racist: http://cityhallblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/07/dallas-county-meeting-turns-ra.html. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Are these two really that big idiots, and that racially sensitive?

More seething and whining from Islamic organizations

Their favourite buzzword is "Islamophobia", an "irrational fear of Muslims". Hmm, how irrational is it when Muslims have killed literally thousands of Americans in terrorist attacks over the last 35 or so years? Well, no matter, because to say ANYTHING negative these days about Islam or Muslims is considered to be "Islamophobic". So, now we have this obnoxious Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal, of all places, plaintively calling on Barack Obama to embrace his Muslim heritage: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121504517357224911.html?mod=djemEditorialPage.

I guess that my response is, "Why not?" After all, you can't say anything negative about Obama without being called a racist, anyway, so what does he have to lose?

Obamanation

Now that he's officially clinched the Democratic nomination for the Presidency, the media hoopla over Barack Obama can REALLY get going: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-06-03-clinton-delegates_N.htm. It's going to be very, very difficult for John McCain to beat Obama, and if those persistent rumours that Obama will make Hillary Clinton his Vice-Presidental nominee come to fruition, I think that McCain is toast in November no matter what he does. Look at the numbers now in the so-called battleground states (courtesy of Realclearpolitics):

Pennsylvania
Obama +5.8
Michigan
McCain +3.0
Ohio
Obama +1.3
Wisconsin
Obama +2.0
Iowa
Obama +6.4
Virginia
McCain +1.3
Florida
McCain +8.3

Those are NOT good numbers for the Republican nominee, who absolutely needs Ohio to have a shot at the Presidency. If Hillary Clinton joins the Obama campaign, the Democrats will have pretty much a lock on the female and minority vote.

It's looking like it will be a very, very ugly November for the Republicans.........

Why the U.N. should be expelled, reason #3,894,234,623

The U.N. is appointing a special investigator to investigate racism. So far, so good. Where is this investigator being sent? Not Saudi Arabia, where all faiths other than Islam are banned. Not Iran, where calls for genocide against Israel and Jews are greeted with a collective yawn by the world community. Not France, where race riots in the infamous "banlieus" are commonplace. Not China, where the Falun Gong is being brutally oppressed. Nope, the U.N. is sending that investigator............................HERE: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSL1684309820080516?feedType=RSS&feedName=politicsNews&rpc=22&sp=true.

If you needed yet another reason to hate that odious organization, there it is..........

The foundation has been laid

Should Barack Obama go on to win the Democratic nomination for the Presidency (he will), but then go on to lose to John McCain in November, the MSM already has the narrative set out. It's because we Americans are a bunch of racist rednecks: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/12/AR2008051203014_pf.html. It matters not in the least that maybe, JUST MAYBE, we won't vote for Obama not because of the colour of his skin (he could be purple with silver stripes for all I care) but because he is in my view a far left figure who would dramatically hike my taxes, socialize our medicine, gut the army, kowtow to anti-Semitic tinpot dictators like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and abandon Israel. Nope, according to the MSM narrative, I'm lying if I try to tell you that the reasons I just listed are in any way valid. If I don't vote for Obama, it's because I'm a racist, plain and simple.

Just watch as this becomes the global spin on the Obama campaign, regardless of whether it wins or loses in November............

Martin Luther King and the Jews

What a contrast between this great man and today's "civil rights leader", such as Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Louis Farrakhan. Martin Luther King was a committed friend of the Jewish people, informing anyone who would listen to him about how invaluable Jewish support for the civil rights movement was: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120951797764154811.html?mod=djemEditorialPage.

Today, many Jews are still supporters of the self-proclaimed civil rights leaders I listed above, and I suspect that this support is more a matter of habit than anything else. I question why this is the case, given that today's Black civil rights leaders, to be blunt, are no friends of the Jews. This friendship has become very much a one-way street...................

REAL racists are Republican

Barack Obama's campaign manager David Plouffe analyzes the electability of his candidate, and in response to a question on whether race will be a factor in determining Obama's electability, posits that most racists are already going to vote for John McCain anyway: http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/no_20080425_7012.php.

Q: Well, one of the things to which some Democrats point -- the Clinton campaign has not said this publicly at least, but one certainly hears it in talking to supporters in more of a background way. Look at the racial polarization in the last several contests -- Pennsylvania, Ohio, Mississippi -- is that going to be a problem? Is race going to be a problem for Barack Obama in the general election?

Plouffe: We really don't think so. I mean the vast, vast majority of voters who would not vote for Barack Obama in November based on race are probably firmly in John McCain's camp already.

That about says it all, doesn't it?

Barack Obama's supporters, Part Two

They now apparently include a Los Angeles clergyman who accuses Jews of "enslaving" African Americans: http://www.standwithus.com/app/iNews/view.asp?ID=350.

Does this mean that Obama hates Jews? Of course not, but given that one story after another is coming out on how people connected to him are anti-Semitic, I think that it's entirely fair to question his judgment and what kind of President he would be.

As I began this somber anniversary, so I end it

My first post today contained one of Dr. King's greatest speeches, and I urge you all to read it again. Well, my last post today contains Dr. King's last speech, and it too was a great one, given less than 24 hours before he was assassinated:

Thank you very kindly, my friends. As I listened to Ralph Abernathy in his eloquent and generous introduction and then thought about myself, I wondered who he was talking about. It's always good to have your closest friend and associate say something good about you. And Ralph is the best friend that I have in the world.

I'm delighted to see each of you here tonight in spite of a storm warning. You reveal that you are determined to go on anyhow. Something is happening in Memphis, something is happening in our world.

As you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of general and panoramic view of the whole human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, "Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?" — I would take my mental flight by Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn't stop there. I would move on by Greece, and take my mind to Mount Olympus. And I would see Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Euripides and Aristophanes assembled around the Parthenon as they discussed the great and eternal issues of reality.

But I wouldn't stop there. I would go on, even to the great heyday of the Roman Empire. And I would see developments around there, through various emperors and leaders. But I wouldn't stop there. I would even come up to the day of the Renaissance, and get a quick picture of all that the Renaissance did for the cultural and esthetic life of man.

But I wouldn't stop there. I would even go by the way that the man for whom I'm named had his habitat. And I would watch Martin Luther as he tacked his ninety-five theses on the door at the church in Wittenberg.

But I wouldn't stop there. I would come on up even to 1863, and watch a vacillating president by the name of Abraham Lincoln finally come to the conclusion that he had to sign the Emancipation Proclamation.

But I wouldn't stop there. I would even come up to the early thirties, and see a man grappling with the problems of the bankruptcy of his nation. And come with an eloquent cry that we have nothing to fear but fear itself.

But I wouldn't stop there. Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, "If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the twentieth century, I will be happy." Now that's a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion all around. That's a strange statement.

But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a away that men, in some strange way, are responding — something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee — the cry is always the same — "We want to be free."

And another reason that I'm happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we're going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demand didn't force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it's nonviolence or nonexistence.

That is where we are today. And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn't done, and in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed. Now, I'm just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period, to see what is unfolding. And I'm happy that He's allowed me to be in Memphis.

I can remember, I can remember when Negroes were just going around as Ralph has said, so often, scratching where they didn't itch, and laughing when they were not tickled. But that day is all over. We mean business now, and we are determined to gain our rightful place in God's world.
And that's all this whole thing is about. We aren't engaged in any negative protest and in any negative arguments with anybody. We are saying that we are determined to be men. We are determined to be people. We are saying that we are God's children. And that we don't have to live like we are forced to live.

Now, what does all of this mean in this great period of history? It means that we've got to stay together. We've got to stay together and maintain unity. You know, whenever Pharaoh wanted to prolong the period of slavery in Egypt, he had a favorite, favorite formula for doing it. What was that? He kept the salves fighting among themselves. But whenever the slaves get together, something happens in Pharaoh's court, and he cannot hold the slaves in slavery. When the slaves get together, that's the beginning of getting out of slavery. Now let us maintain unity.

Secondly, let us keep the issues where they are. The issue is injustice. The issue is the refusal of Memphis to be fair and honest in its dealings with its public servants, who happen to be sanitation workers. Now, we've got to keep attention on that. That's always the problem with a little violence. You know what happened the other day, and the press dealt only with the window-breaking. I read the articles. They very seldom got around to mentioning the fact that one thousand, three hundred sanitation workers were on strike, and that Memphis is not being fair to them, and that Mayor Loeb is in dire need of a doctor. They didn't get around to that.

Now we're going to march again, and we've got to march again, in order to put the issue where it is supposed to be. And force everybody to see that there are thirteen hundred of God's children here suffering, sometimes going hungry, going through dark and dreary nights wondering how this thing is going to come out. That's the issue. And we've got to say to the nation: we know it's coming out. For when people get caught up with that which is right and they are willing to sacrifice for it, there is no stopping point short of victory.

We aren't going to let any mace stop us. We are masters in our nonviolent movement in disarming police forces; they don't know what to do, I've seen them so often. I remember in Birmingham, Alabama, when we were in that majestic struggle there we would move out of the 16th Street Baptist Church day after day; by the hundreds we would move out. And Bull Connor would tell them to send the dogs forth and they did come; but we just went before the dogs singing, "Ain't gonna let nobody turn me round." Bull Connor next would say, "Turn the fire hoses on." And as I said to you the other night, Bull Connor didn't know history. He knew a kind of physics that somehow didn't relate to the transphysics that we knew about. And that was the fact that there was a certain kind of fire that no water could put out. And we went before the fire hoses; we had known water. If we were Baptist or some other denomination, we had been immersed. If we were Methodist, and some others, we had been sprinkled, but we knew water.

That couldn't stop us. And we just went on before the dogs and we would look at them; and we'd go on before the water hoses and we would look at it, and we'd just go on singing "Over my head I see freedom in the air." And then we would be thrown in the paddy wagons, and sometimes we were stacked in there like sardines in a can. And they would throw us in, and old Bull would say, "Take them off," and they did; and we would just go in the paddy wagon singing, "We Shall Overcome." And every now and then we'd get in the jail, and we'd see the jailers looking through the windows being moved by our prayers, and being moved by our words and our songs. And there was a power there which Bull Connor couldn't adjust to; and so we ended up transforming Bull into a steer, and we won our struggle in Birmingham.

Now we've got to go on to Memphis just like that. I call upon you to be with us Monday. Now about injunctions: We have an injunction and we're going into court tomorrow morning to fight this illegal, unconstitutional injunction. All we say to America is, "Be true to what you said on paper." If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for right. And so just as I say, we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around. We are going on.

We need all of you. And you know what's beautiful tome, is to see all of these ministers of the Gospel. It's a marvelous picture. Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of the people more than the preacher? Somehow the preacher must be an Amos, and say, "Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream." Somehow, the preacher must say with Jesus, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor."

And I want to commend the preachers, under the leadership of these noble men: James Lawson, one who has been in this struggle for many years; he's been to jail for struggling; but he's still going on, fighting for the rights of his people. Rev. Ralph Jackson, Billy Kiles; I could just go right on down the list, but time will not permit. But I want to thank them all. And I want you to thank them, because so often, preachers aren't concerned about anything but themselves. And I'm always happy to see a relevant ministry.

It's all right to talk about "long white robes over yonder," in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here. It's all right to talk about "streets flowing with milk and honey," but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preachers must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.

Now the other thing we'll have to do is this: Always anchor our external direct action with the power of economic withdrawal. Now, we are poor people, individually, we are poor when you compare us with white society in America. We are poor. Never stop and forget that collectively, that means all of us together, collectively we are richer than all the nations in the world, with the exception of nine. Did you ever think about that? After you leave the United States, Soviet Russia, Great Britain, West Germany, France, and I could name the others, the Negro collectively is richer than most nations of the world. We have an annual income of more than thirty billion dollars a year, which is more than all of the exports of the United States, and more than the national budget of Canada. Did you know that? That's power right there, if we know how to pool it.

We don't have to argue with anybody. We don't have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don't need any bricks and bottles, we don't need any Molotov cocktails, we just need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, "God sent us by here, to say to you that you're not treating his children right. And we've come by here to ask you to make the first item on your agenda fair treatment, where God's children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow. And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you."

And so, as a result of this, we are asking you tonight, to go out and tell your neighbors not to buy Coca-Cola in Memphis. Go by and tell them not to buy Sealtest milk. Tell them not to buy—what is the other bread?—Wonder Bread. And what is the other bread company, Jesse? Tell them not to buy Hart's bread. As Jesse Jackson has said, up to now, only the garbage men have been feeling pain; now we must kind of redistribute the pain. We are choosing these companies because they haven't been fair in their hiring policies; and we are choosing them because they can begin the process of saying, they are going to support the needs and the rights of these men who are on strike. And then they can move on downtown and tell Mayor Loeb to do what is right.

But not only that, we've got to strengthen black institutions. I call upon you to take your money out of the banks downtown and deposit your money in Tri-State Bank—we want a "bank-in" movement in Memphis. So go by the savings and loan association. I'm not asking you something we don't do ourselves at SCLC. Judge Hooks and others will tell you that we have an account here in the savings and loan association from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. We're just telling you to follow what we're doing. Put your money there. You have six or seven black insurance companies in Memphis. Take out your insurance there. We want to have an "insurance-in."

Now these are some practical things we can do. We begin the process of building a greater economic base. And at the same time, we are putting pressure where it really hurts. I ask you to follow through here.

Now, let me say as I move to my conclusion that we've got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point, in Memphis. We've got to see it through. And when we have our march, you need to be there. Be concerned about your brother. You may not be on strike. But either we go up together, or we go down together.

Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. One day a man came to Jesus; and he wanted to raise some questions about some vital matters in life. At points, he wanted to trick Jesus, and show him that he knew a little more than Jesus knew, and through this, throw him off base. Now that question could have easily ended up in a philosophical and theological debate. But Jesus immediately pulled that question from mid-air, and placed it on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho. And he talked about a certain man, who fell among thieves. You remember that a Levite and a priest passed by on the other side. They didn't stop to help him. And finally a man of another race came by. He got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy. But with him, administering first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the "I" into the "thou," and to be concerned about his brother. Now you know, we use our imagination a great deal to try to determine why the priest and the Levite didn't stop. At times we say they were busy going to church meetings—an ecclesiastical gathering—and they had to get on down to Jerusalem so they wouldn't be late for their meeting. At other times we would speculate that there was a religious law that "One who was engaged in religious ceremonials was not to touch a human body twenty-four hours before the ceremony." And every now and then we begin to wonder whether maybe they were not going down to Jerusalem, or down to Jericho, rather to organize a "Jericho Road Improvement Association." That's a possibility. Maybe they felt that it was better to deal with the problem from the causal root, rather than to get bogged down with an individual effort.

But I'm going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It's possible that these men were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road. I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, "I can see why Jesus used this as a setting for his parable." It's a winding, meandering road. It's really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles, or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you're about 2200 feet below sea level. That's a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the "Bloody Pass." And you know, it's possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it's possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the Levite asked was, "If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?" But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: "If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?"

That's the question before you tonight. Not, "If I stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to all of the hours that I usually spend in my office every day and every week as a pastor?"

The question is not, "If I stop to help this man in need, what will happen to me?" "If I do not stop to help the sanitation workers, what will happen to them?" That's the question.

Let us rise up tonight with a greater readiness. Let us stand with a greater determination. And let us move on in these powerful days, these days of challenge to make America what it ought to be. We have an opportunity to make America a better nation. And I want to thank God, once more, for allowing me to be here with you.

You know, several years ago, I was in New York City autographing the first book that I had written. And while sitting there autographing books, a demented black woman came up. The only question I heard from her was, "Are you Martin Luther King?"

And I was looking down writing, and I said yes. And the next minute I felt something beating on my chest. Before I knew it I had been stabbed by this demented woman. I was rushed to Harlem Hospital. It was a dark Saturday afternoon. And that blade had gone through, and the X-rays revealed that the tip of the blade was on the edge of my aorta, the main artery. And once that's punctured, you drown in your own blood—that's the end of you.

It came out in the New York Times the next morning, that if I had sneezed, I would have died. Well, about four days later, they allowed me, after the operation, after my chest had been opened, and the blade had been taken out, to move around in the wheel chair in the hospital. They allowed me to read some of the mail that came in, and from all over the states, and the world, kind letters came in. I read a few, but one of them I will never forget. I had received one from the President and the Vice-President. I've forgotten what those telegrams said. I'd received a visit and a letter from the Governor of New York, but I've forgotten what the letter said. But there was another letter that came from a little girl, a young girl who was a student at the White Plains High School. And I looked at that letter, and I'll never forget it. It said simply, "Dear Dr. King: I am a ninth-grade student at the White Plains High School." She said, "While it should not matter, I would like to mention that I am a white girl. I read in the paper of your misfortune, and of your suffering. And I read that if you had sneezed, you would have died. And I'm simply writing you to say that I'm so happy that you didn't sneeze."

And I want to say tonight, I want to say that I am happy that I didn't sneeze. Because if I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around here in 1960, when students all over the South started sitting-in at lunch counters. And I knew that as they were sitting in, they were really standing up for the best in the American dream. And taking the whole nation back to those great wells of democracy which were dug deep by the Founding Fathers in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been around in 1962, when Negroes in Albany, Georgia, decided to straighten their backs up. And whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can't ride your back unless it is bent. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been here in 1963, when the black people of Birmingham, Alabama, aroused the conscience of this nation, and brought into being the Civil Rights Bill. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have had a chance later that year, in August, to try to tell America about a dream that I had had. If I had sneezed, I wouldn't have been down in Selma, Alabama, been in Memphis to see the community rally around those brothers and sisters who are suffering. I'm so happy that I didn't sneeze.

And they were telling me, now it doesn't matter now. It really doesn't matter what happens now. I left Atlanta this morning, and as we got started on the plane, there were six of us, the pilot said over the public address system, "We are sorry for the delay, but we have Dr. Martin Luther King on the plane. And to be sure that all of the bags were checked, and to be sure that nothing would be wrong with the plane, we had to check out everything carefully. And we've had the plane protected and guarded all night."

And then I got to Memphis. And some began to say the threats, or talk about the threats that were out. What would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers?

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn't matter with me now. Because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. And I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Martin Luther King, January 15, 1928-April 4, 1968

The text of arguably his greatest speech:

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have 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." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

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.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

And in the words of U2, one of the great rock groups of all time, this tribute to Reverend King (the song "Pride", from 1984's The Unforgettable Fire):

One man come in the name of love
One man come and go
One man come, he to justify
One man to overthrow

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

One man caught on a barbed wire fence
One man he resist
One man washed on an empty beach.
One man betrayed with a kiss
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love

(nobody like you...)

Early morning, April 4
Shot rings out in the memphis sky
Free at last, they took your life
They could not take your pride

In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love
In the name of love
What more in the name of love...

Republican dirty tricks

We're still seven months away from the 2008 General/Presidential Election and Barack Obama has not yet secured the Democratic Party nomination, yet already so-called Progressives are screeching and whining about how the election could or might be lost because of racist Republican dirty tricks: http://www.prospect.org/cs/articles?article=conservatives_hate_based_campaign_against_obama. Yup, if Obama loses, it could only be because he is Black. It could never be because, say:

1) People realize just how far to the left he is;
2) He is soft on terror;
3) Americans don't want their taxes hiked;
4) He would effectively surrender in Iraq, something that would be very bad in the long run for the United States;
5) He is in favour of socialized medicine, something most Americans do not want (though they certainly do want health care reform);
6) His views on abortion are out of touch with the views of even most abortion supporters;
7) His ambivalence (and I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt by using the term "ambivalent") towards the State of Israel, the only true American ally in the Middle East, is out of touchwith the views of most people in this country, as they actually seem to like Israel (which poll after poll shows);
8) Americans are rightfully leery of someone who would talk without preconditions to the likes of Hugo Chavez, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Basher Assad, something even Hillary Clinton won't do;
9) His threat to essentially tear up the NAFTA agreement would hurt the United States in the long run.

Those nine reasons came to me immediately. No doubt, if I gave it some more thought, many more would come to mind. But, that would go against the self-hating rhetoric of the left in the country, which has already decided that this is a horrible, racist country, no matter what anyone may say.