In Memoriam

It was forty years ago today that Martin Luther King was assassinated by a sniper's bullet as he exited the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. King is always remembered for his work in the civil rights movement, but (not surprisingly) the mainstream media tends to forget his fierce opposition to the Vietnam War. Below are a few quotes from Rev. King.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and
conscientious stupidity."

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort
and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."

"A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military
defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom."

We are now living in an America where the dead bodies, including many Iraqi women and children are shielded from us. The White House has even declared that photos of flag draped coffins of dead G.I.s returning home are off-limits. The government does not want us as citizens to know the maiming, killing and torture done in our name and with our tax dollars. They would rather that we spend our time watching Project Runway, or glued to our TV sets as Naomi Campbell is arrested yet again for being a flaming asshole. As far as the Defense Department (formerly known as the War Department, but truth in advertising is so out of fashion these days) is concerned, the actual on the ground results of Operation Iraqi Freedom are more palatable as "out of sight, out of mind." As far as the actual death toll of innocent Iraqi civilians? Well, I believe it was war criminal Donald Rumsfeld that said, "People say we hear about our death counts; we never hear about theirs. Why?" Rumsfeld's response echoed the famous remark in March 2002 by Gen. Tommy Franks, who ran the war in Afghanistan and later led the charge into Iraq. "We don't do body counts on other people."

Exactly one year before Martin Luther King was killed he gave a speech at a meeting of Clergy and Laity Concerned at Riverside Church in New York City entitled Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence. Here is a link to that brave speech that you probably will not see referenced today, as the U.S. continues to occupy Iraq five years after the start of this illegal war. And if, out of mere curiosity, you might be interested to see how many innocent Iraqi civilians have been killed as the U.S. bravely gives them the gift of freedom, liberty & democracy (read: Wal-Mart, McDonalds & SUV's) go to iraqbodycount.org. The numbers may shock you, or at least they should. If on the other hand you think that this war is justified and you're also a big fan of Jack Bauer and the show 24 then go ahead and vote for John McCain this November. You should also get your fit lily-white ass down to your local recruiter and sign up to ship off to Baghdad if you're so gung-ho. Of course, it was folks like Dick Cheney who had better things to do during the Vietnam War. Surprise, surprise! Hell, it was only a couple of weeks ago when our president-select, the chimp-in-charge, speaking by video conference to military and civilian personal in Afghanistan, spewed these vile words:

I must say, I'm a little envious. If I were slightly younger and not employed here, I think it would be a fantastic experience to be on the front lines of helping this young democracy succeed. It must be exciting for you … in some ways romantic, in some ways, you know, confronting danger. You're really making history, and thanks.

If I'm not mistaken, this is the same drunken fool who got out of serving in Vietnam by using his rich daddy's connections to secure a post in the National Guard. And then he didn't even show up for that duty! (I heard it was something about his fear of passing the urine test..er, I mean physical.) Of course, now that he's president the rules have changed and the Guard and reservists are having their bodies and souls shipped overseas with the rest of the volunteer force.