MLKJr

Don't Forget this Holiday: the Birthday of Robert E. Lee
 

This is how the John Locke Foundation has acknowledged today's holiday in a post on their blog Friday. No other reference to today's Martin Luther King Jr holiday appears at the John Locke Foundation or Carolina Journal websites.

I think they owe an apology to Larry The Cable Guy with the Git-R-Done reference even if they won't apologize to the African-American community. Perhaps they think it's ok because the insult is bi-partisan.

             ...more below the fold...

or let fade from public remembrance:

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.
It takes a touch of genius - and a lot of courage -
to move in the opposite direction." 
~Albert Einstein

John Edwards' folks sent out a notice yesterday about his speech this afternoon at Riverside Church in Harlem, which is where MLK delivered his "Silence is Betrayal" sermon in opposition to the Vietnam War.
Edwards will use the opportunity to underscore his opposition to the escalation of the Iraq War.
Edwards is calling on Congress not to fund the escalation.
The speech will be available live on the Web. Information at this link.

Following is a YouTube clip of Edwards explaining what he's going to say and why. I've passed on excerpts from Edwards' prepared remarks as well.

You've probably heard by now that Smithfield Foods plans to dock any worker that walks out or doesn't show up on Monday.
Not the first of the troubles at the plant, which is the largest hog slaughtering operation in the world. Here's the Smithfield Justice site on the issue.
Smithfield workers have organized a petition drive. Text of their sample letter:

For over ten years, the workers at Smithfield Packing in Tar Heel, NC have worked dangerous jobs under extreme conditions. The workers kill and disassemble 32,000 pigs a day in your Tar Heel plant and receive very little respect from management. For years the workers have fought for their right to choose a union in the plant, but time and time again they are met with resistance at the hand of you, Smithfield.

You might remember a story from Maryland last year, about Martin Luther King, Jr., a.k.a. one of the greatest leaders of the 20th Century and a known champion of social equality, being claimed by the GOP as a Republican in an advertisment. Yes, it's absurd:

That is why the ad was "a joke," said Christopher Arps, a former spokesman for Rice and the association [that ran the ad that claimed MLK as a Republican]. "Anyone with any sense knows that most black people were Republican at one time. But it's a far stretch to think that in the '60s Martin Luther King was a Republican."

Well, the Mecklenburg County GOP is repeating this absurdity:

It should come as no surprise that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was a Republican. In that era, almost all black Americans were Republicans. Why? From its founding in 1854 as the anti-slavery party until today, the Republican Party has championed freedom and civil rights for blacks. And as one pundit so succinctly stated, the Democrat Party is as it always has been, the party of the four S's: Slavery, Secession, Segregation and now Socialism.