I'm not an expert on Martin Luther King (MLK) but I know a few things. There was an interesting discussion yesterday on Democracy Now. One of the topics they hit on was that most people only know him for his civil rights work, which ended around 1965. He was killed in 1968. Most media retrospectives of MLK don't mention what he was doing from 1965 until his death. Well he wasn't working on tax cuts for the rich. What he was trying to do was bring lower and middle class workers together, no matter their race, sex, religion, etc.. He was also for organizing workers (labor unions). But most of all as this speech points out he wanted us out of Vietnam. Remember that's why JFK was killed and a month after MLK, RFK was killed for the same reason. All three killed by supposed lone gunmen. So MLK was a proponent of civil disobedience, nonviolent protest and world peace. Those are not good things as far as the military industrial complex is considered. Not to mention the fact of organizing workers made him a communist. The story that doesn't get told is always the best.

Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, Memo for the President: Your State-of-the-Union Address.

Chalmers Johnson, America's Empire of Bases.

Al Gore Speaks on Global Warming and the Environment, read or listen.

I love this guy, Global Eye – Organ Grinders.

Photos from Bush in Atlanta yesterday.

Paul Krugman, Who Gets It?

So what's the answer? A Democratic candidate will have a chance of winning only if he has an energized base, willing to contribute money in many small donations, willing to contribute their own time, willing to stand up for the candidate in the face of smear tactics and unfair coverage.

That doesn't mean that the Democratic candidate has to be a radical — which is a good thing for the party, since all of the candidates are actually quite moderate. In fact, what the party needs is a candidate who inspires the base enough to get out the message that he isn't a radical — and that Mr. Bush is.

Molly Ivins, Giving money to rich people.
- posted by Mom/Dad @ 8:59 AM