I wasn't going to blog today. Instead, I'd intended to take the day off. My wife and I were invited by friends to view Brokeback Mountain, which we did. Excellent movie, and afterwards we adjourned to Starback's Mountain (Starbuck's) to discuss it.
But when I arrived home, I glanced over the headlines and found a story just too funny to ignore. It's about our president honoring MLK, Jr. on this, his holiday. In case anyone missed it, I thought I'd share a bit of it with you. (Following quotes are from excite.com's Bush Says King's 'Dream' Not Yet Completed by NEDRA PICKLER.)
Before I get into what Bush actually said, followed by his Attorney General Gonzales' "honoring" of King also, let me just note the extreme delusion our leadership is living under. If they actually believe they are advancing King's vision for America, it is not enough to--one day out of the year--convince us how hot on its trail they are while trashing it the other 364.
But its also possible our leadership may just be going through the motions of some obligatory 'honoring' of a dead person they really detest by lying to us what a great man they think King was. I don't know which is worse. Neither is good, but I suspect in one, or the other, lies the truth.
Bush credited King as being one of America's greatest historical figures while reminding us that his dream of equality (here, substitute 'poverty') is not yet complete.
"At the dawn of this new century, America can be proud of the progress we have made toward equality, but we all must recognize we have more to do. The reason to honor Martin Luther King is to remember his strength of character and his leadership, but also to remember the remaining work." (God, how incredibly funny is it to hear Bush speaking of character and leadership!)
"Bush told the crowd that Congress must renew provisions of the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act that are set to expire next year. The president had previously declined to support the renewal until last month." (When he probably realized January was Martin Luther King's birthday.)
As Dada likes to remind everyone, who would your president be today if Bush's little brother Jeb hadn't removed all those voting rights of African Americans from Florida's voting rolls in 2000?
Bush continued, "We recommit ourselves to working for the dream that Martin Luther King gave his life for - an America where the dignity of every person is respected; where people are judged not by the color of their skin -- by the content of their character; and where the hope of a better tomorrow is in every neighborhood in this country," (Dada says, "Think of post-Katrina communities 'genocide' now ongoing across New Orleans.")
Earlier in the day, Bush visited the National Archives where he viewed the Emancipation Proclamation. As he said while there, "Abraham Lincoln recognized that all men are created equal. Martin Luther King lived on that admonition to call our country to a higher calling, and today we celebrate the life of an American who called Americans to account when we didn't live up to our ideals." (Dada says, "Think Bush photo-op--and recall what's happened to those who have called Bush to account when he didn't live up to our ideals.")
Bush's attorney general also paid tribute to King, saying civil rights "is not a black, brown or white issue. It is a people's issue."
Further expounding, Gonzales continued in his effort to reassure us of his humble origins, stating he is "the attorney general for all Americans."
"I've lived that dream," he said, "and I must preserve and protect the hopes and opportunities that I have received for future generations," as we remember Gonzales contribution towards Bush's ability to violate international treaties in order to torture, and violate American's civil rights by spying on them in the name of security.
I would love for Martin Luther King, Jr. to be alive today. To respond to the honors being heaped upon him by leaders retaliating for 9/11 against people who had nothing to do with 9/11, imprisoning people indefinitely without charge or due process. Torturing anyone at will. Violating American's Bill of Rights.
Yes, "Happy birthday, Martin." We've made huge strides. (Ugh, gag!) But as the president reminds, "we have more to do." Dada ponders just how much more the nation can tolerate.
Of course, the irony in all of this is: The longer these self-righteous, self-deluding megalomaniacs are in charge, the further we recede from King's ideals. But just for today, at least, let them rub elbows with greatness while hoping some of it's rubbing off on these pathetic bastards!
5 comments:
glad you did decide to blog today! enjoyed your "decoding" of the Bush MLK honors. his "viewing" of the emancipation proclamation" was precisely that ... a viewing ... he saw it, nodded his head solemnly & moved on, no actual reading of course. Hope you also caught C-Span coverage of Al Gore's speech at Constitution Hall this A.M. You can read it on Buzzflash if you missed it. The TV news is only showing disappointing snips making it seem like he's just a bitter man for election 2000 (well, who wouldn't be?). Typical. Seeing him speak always makes me so sad over what we really lost. D.K.
Al Gore really found his Brass ones..thank heavens...
Let see who else finds theirs...Russ??? Teddy? hmm.
It was an amazing speech- I have now watched it three times- cspan will air all week...and it is over at No Blood for Hubris and Educational Whisper and Raw Story...You gotta SEE it ALL of it....amazing...
now I have to say this was a great post- you made me laugh cry, grumble and and yell Amen...and I know in my heart that Bobby Kennedy and Martin would have been bloggers, yup Brave Bloggers....don't you agree??
rkryder: Thanks for the president's quote. I know how sad it must be for people beneath our fighters and bombers to get the shit blown out of their country when they're not exactly sure why because they couldn't understand the leader directing the attacks against 'em.
But maybe we're being to harsh on our president? Sure, there are any number of speech pathologies manifested within our leader from who knows how many sources but, obviously, there's real genius behind those muttled words because if he were truly an idiot, how could you possibly explain his "election", "re-election" and continued support by nearly half the nation? Huh?
Nah, I'm sure bush is brilliant as his supporters continue to believe. A hundred twenty million people just can't be wrong!
Just wish I could understand what the hell he's saying. Just like the Iranians wish, I imagine.
to anonymous (D.K.), rkrider, e4e, and samrocha: Thanks for the kind words and thanks for directing me to Al Gore's speech yesterday.
Somewhere my wife and I heard a commentator remarking on Gore's speech. He dismissed it by saying something like, "Gore's said similar stuff before." (Has anyone listened to Bush's speechs the past 4.5 years? Remember those old 8 track tapes? Bush sounds like a one track eight track. How the fuck do the media manage to analyze his every speech when every speech is the same ol' bullshit?
So Gore is dismissed by some commentator because he's said angry stuff against the president before. Aaaargh!
But while we were all admiring Gore's MLK's BD "juevos", where the hell was the *I* word in any of that? C'mon Gore, if you're gonna talk tough shit, let's go all the way!
Okay, okay.....since my last comment here, I've seen more of the Gore speech from yesterday and am, indeed, impressed with his brass.
However, I think the *I* word--impeachment--needs to be used more, used often. Why, it even passed between Arlen Specter's lips as a possibility.
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