40 years ago today, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated and this nation lost one of the greatest leaders for peace and justice that we have ever known. His message is still applicable for today. I still remember that sad day, 40 years ago.


http://youtube.com/watch?v=b80Bsw0UG-U

Sad day, indeed. Real leaders are hard to come by.

1968 - a very tough year.

It's cool how John McCain voted against establishing Martin Luther King, Jr., Day...but just got around to apologizing for it today.

You don't think his apology might have been motivated by his desire to not look like an old white Republican man, do you? Kinda late for that one...cat's outta the bag already.

Fish on...

Todd

We have way too many days labeled as holidays, I think we could get by with New Years Day, Independance Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and maybe lump the rest into Holiday Day...

I don't see our Country as so productive that we need to keep thinking up reasons to shut things down to celebrate...Small business owners don't get paid days off, but the bureaucrats don't miss a beat.

There has been a lot of good done in this Country by "old white Republican men", there's bad apples for sure, seems like more as of late, but I'm not appologizing for being a white male, and I damn sure won't hold it against anyone else.

I didn't say that there's anything wrong with being a white male...like probably 90% of the folks on this website, I happen to be one, too...

The important part (which I suspect was missed on purpose) was that McCain decided to choose now to apologize for not supporting Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

If he was right when he voted against it, then why is he apologizing?

If he was wrong when he voted against it, then why did he vote against it, and why is he apologizing for it now?

As usual, the reason is sure to lie in the gray morass of poltical relativism that Republicans are quick to dismiss in favor of their concrete, black and white world, yet are more likely to live within as any other political group...it's called hypocrisy.

Fish on...

Todd

I don't know how you can be surprized by anything a politician says or does these days...McCain is simply the least bad of the choices (no brainer in this case).

P.S., I can't believe you would accuse me of omitting part of your comments just for effect...sheesh.

10 things you should know about John McCain (but probably don't):

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he's continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1


Sources:
1. "The Complicated History of John McCain and MLK Day," ABC News, April 3, 2008
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-complicated.html

"McCain Facts," ColorOfChange.org, April 4, 2008
http://colorofchange.org/mccain_facts/


2. "McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia, China, Iraq," Bloomberg News, March 12, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aF28rSCtk0ZM&refer=us


"Buchanan: John McCain 'Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi,'" ThinkProgress, February 6, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/06/buchanan-gandhi-mccain/

3. "McCain Sides With Bush On Torture Again, Supports Veto Of Anti-Waterboarding Bill," ThinkProgress, February 20, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/20/mccain-torture-veto/

4. "McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned," MSNBC, February 18, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17222147/

5. "2007 Children's Defense Fund Action Council® Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard," February 2008
http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_learn_scorecard2007


"McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion," CNN, October 3, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/03/mccain.interview/

6. "Beer Executive Could Be Next First Lady," Associated Press, April 3, 2008
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-S1sWHm0tchtdMP5LcLywg5ZtMgD8VQ86M80

"McCain Says Bank Bailout Should End `Systemic Risk,'" Bloomberg News, March 25, 2008
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHMiDVYaXZFM&refer=home


7. "Will McCain's Temper Be a Liability?," Associated Press, February 16, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4301022


"Famed McCain temper is tamed," Boston Globe, January 27, 2008
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/27/famed_mccain_temper_is_tamed/


8. "Black Claims McCain's Campaign Is Above Lobbyist Influence: 'I Don't Know What The Criticism Is,'" ThinkProgress, April 2, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/02/mccain-black-lobbyist/


"McCain's Lobbyist Friends Rally 'Round Their Man," ABC News, January 29, 2008
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4210251


9. "McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam," Mother Jones Magazine, March 12, 2008
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html


"Will McCain Specifically 'Repudiate' Hagee's Anti-Gay Comments?," ThinkProgress, March 12, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/12/mccain-hagee-anti-gay/

"McCain 'Very Honored' By Support Of Pastor Preaching 'End-Time Confrontation With Iran,'" ThinkProgress, February 28, 2008
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/28/hagee-mccain-endorsement/


10. "John McCain Gets a Zero Rating for His Environmental Record," Sierra Club, February 28, 2008
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/environment/77913/





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I shudder in disbelief at the fact that there are actually people who want Hillary Clinton to be in power...any position of power.

Sincere question: What quality does she posess that makes you want Hillary to be President ? Please don't say health insurance !

Maybe people take comfort in the idea that she can lead sheep, which is what this country has become: A big passive herd of sheep, growing by one (predominantly non-english speaking) sheep every 12 seconds.

As for a holiday celebrating MLK assassination. I'm sure Anheuser-Busch's stock will go up in the south.

We already have several "holidays" that have lost all intended meaning.

Memorial day. A three day hello to summer.
Get in line at the liquor store and ask random people what "memorial day" is all about. 50% either will not know, or their answer will have something to do with the Indianapolis 500


Labor day. We take a day off from work to celebrate what? Work!
The holiday was created to acknowledge trade and labor organizations, a day of rest for the working man.

Now, its simply a 3-day goodbye to summer. An opportunity to get killed by a DUI driver on a weekday. A podium for political rallies in election years and one big fantastic "Sale" day.

Christmas day - Easter.

If you're not Christian, shouldnt you be at work?



Thanksgiving day. A day to give thanks to god because 38 English settlers arrived safely on the banks of the colony of Virginia. Since then, the holiday has been married to typical "harvest festivals" of the same era, and now has evolved and we have this really weird day to watch football, consume far too much food and alcohol, and get some really good deals on Christmas gifts. Yeah, Im thankful.

Independence day.

The one day of the year when explosives and alcohol DO mix.


What will MLK assassination day evolve to?

Why is a thread about Mr. King polluted with the political meanderings of today's politics?

Mr. King dared to dream the impossible and then showed up to do what he could do to make it happen despite terrible odds and consequences.

If it were possible I would take King AND McCain as they are the only ones who I would trust to cover my back, and my country's back, (notice I said "back", and not "butt"). Their personal differences I'm sure would have been ironed out over time. 1968 was a long time ago (The year I got out of the Army) and many things have changed. I'm absolutely sure there are many "troop supporters" of today who would have been yelling "baby killers" back then.

Slap happy you are right... my bad. I got sucked into pointing out that McCain, a candidate for President, was a force against recognizing Dr. King when it counted. The holiday was dedicated to reflect on the struggle that the black man has experienced, at the hands of ignorant, ungodly, racist people and our government. King facilitated the illumination of the dysfunction, and was willing to give his life for such a divine cause. There is absolutely nothing divine about anybody or anything that is in an alliance with Bush or his cronies.

The rest of the stuff you post, comparing McCain to Martin Luther King, is complete Bull. Martin Luther King is respected around the world, from all races and cultures, for his contribution to all of humanity. McCain is just another Redneck that went once or twice to a designate Black Church in order to claim for political purposes, that he now stands shoulder to shoulder with Martin Luther King. I wonder how Vietnam feels about comparing him to Dr. King. BTW, Vietnam was a mistake. We had no business over there killing those people in the first place. Again, McCain is no Noble Peace Prize winner, and never, ever will be. His morals would never pass the smell test, nor would they come close to that of Dr. King.

Touche', JLH.

Was not my intention to compare one with the other beyond the fact that both are/were fighters. The mistakes and wrongs of yesterday should not be forgotten lest they be repeated, nor should the resentments of past injustices be fed lest they be kept from dying.

A willingness to change is a good start, don't you think?

Back on topic:

I read somewhere once right around the time he died that James Earl Ray expected to be hailed as a National Hero, parades and all, so he proudly stood up and admitted to what he did.

He recanted as soon as he found out he was going to rot in prison instead of get the red carpet & tickertape.

Just goes to show how out to lunch racist crackers are.

Before Ray died, the King family reassured him that they no longer believed that he killed Dr. King. They were certain that it was not James Earl Ray, after they had reviewed all the data documenting, the criminal tactic's that our government used against him and his family. You can google Martin Luther King and the FBI, and will probably find an encyclopedia of info on the many hostilities that he had to endured from that agency as well as others. After you examined the evidence, you then find that J E Hoover, was obsessed with Dr. King, and chief perpetrator of the many crimes against him. The Ray evidence falls short. Another sernerio?......... Likely!

It's the racist crackers in our government that concerns me most.

There are too many holidays on the books already...at the current rate of declaring, when do we get to 365 ?

I see that you watch the history channel too.

Time for a new thread.

It's already here - in California that is!

I only mentioned it because the Hoover-King subject was on tv while I was reading this thread. Not something I knew before.

And who's forcing you to take a day off?

I don't take holidays off...
WE do however pay thousands of govt employees out of our taxes though...

Not taking holidays off is obviously you're choice--for whatever reason--but why would you deny every other American from a day off with pay to celebrate a culturally important day?

Anybody hoping to have the words engraved on their headstone, "He/She should have spent more time at the office" ?

Why not have Cultural History Day....once per year. You're gonna want a support group for the decendants of all the Great men who never got their own Holiday next....................Or would you prefer that I had used the word Americans...or even People instead of Great men ?


What is the concept behind free money anyway ?