Let’s take a moment today to remember that Martin Luther King was a lot more than “just” a civil rights leader:
King was working on anti-poverty and anti-war issues at the time of his death. He had spoken out against the Vietnam War and was in Memphis when he was killed in April 1968 in support of striking sanitation workers.
King had come a long way from the crowds who cheered him at the 1963 March on Washington, when he was introduced as “the moral leader of our nation” — and when he pronounced “I have a dream” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.
By taking on issues outside segregation, he had lost the support of many newspapers and magazines, and his relationship with the White House had suffered, said Harvard Sitkoff, a professor of history at the University of New Hampshire who has written a recently published book on King.
“He was considered by many to be a pariah,” Sitkoff said.
But he took on issues of poverty and militarism because he considered them vital “to make equality something real and not just racial brotherhood but equality in fact,” Sitkoff said.
Scholarly study of King hasn’t translated into the popular perception of him and the civil rights movement, said Richard Greenwald, professor of history at Drew University.
“We’re living increasingly in a culture of top 10 lists, of celebrity biopics which simplify the past as entertainment or mythology,” he said. “We lose a view on what real leadership is by compressing him down to one window.”
That does a disservice to both King and society, said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University.
By freezing him at that point, by putting him on a pedestal of perfection that doesn’t acknowledge his complex views, “it makes it impossible both for us to find new leaders and for us to aspire to leadership,” Harris-Lacewell said.
She believes it’s important for Americans in 2008 to remember how disliked King was before his death in April 1968.
“If we forget that, then it seems like the only people we can get behind must be popular,” Harris-Lacewell said. “Following King meant following the unpopular road, not the popular one.”
Nearly 40 years after his death, there’s still a lot of work to be done — on all those fronts.
January 21st, 2008
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Holiday |
one comment
Enjoy the holiday, or whatever holiday you may celebrate.
December 24th, 2007
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Holiday |
7 comments
Hanukkah started last night, so Happy Hanukkah to any readers who celebrate it.
December 5th, 2007
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Holiday |
no comments
It’s holiday — lets push the racists off the top post.
I am no where near the foodie that Tgirsch is, but I did find this group of articles on the science of good food fascinating. Enjoy, and I hope everyone has a nice holiday.
UPDATE: And be thankful for people like these.
November 22nd, 2007
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General, Holiday |
no comments
Try not to eat TOO much.
And don’t waste that turkey carcass! Instead, make stock:
After carving the turkey, add the carcass (all bones, scraps, skin, etc. — even the gibliets and neck!) to the largest stock pot you’ve got (at least 8 qt) with about 4 carrots cut up, and four ribs of celery (including the green leafy parts), as well as any herbs you’ve got laying around. Add about 2 tsp of whole black peppercorns and a tablespoon of poultry stuffing seasoning, and then fill the pot with water, leaving about 2″ of headroom. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer (covered) for about 3-4 hours. Allow the stock to cool somewhat, then strain it into a container (save the solids — you’re not done with those yet) and put it in the bottom of the fridge to cool more completely (overnight). In the morning, the fat will have risen to the top and solidified. Scrape this off the top. You can discard it, or you can freeze it for use in a roux, salad dressing or the Gravy of Tomorrow. The stock may be gelatinous — that’s a good thing.
What can you do with the stock? Well, you can make a turkey noodle soup (many recipes available on-line), or you can freeze it and save it for recipes that call for chicken stock. I like to pre-measure it into 1/2 cup, 1 cup, and 2 cup quantities and freeze these, so I’ve got ready-to-use amounts available quickly. (Tip: Once the pre-measured amounts have frozen solid, remove them from their containers and put them into a zip-top freezer bag, to save on freezer space.)
About those solids: If you’re willing to do a little dirty work, go through the scraps and pick out all the bones. You’re done with these. What’s left will be a mass of carrots, celery, herbs, and turkey scraps — which happen to make a good food for Fido. If you used onions in your stock, you’ll want to pick those out, too, as those can be toxic to dogs — I find it easier to skip the onions. But once the bones and any onions have been removed, put the remaining mess into a blender or food processor and puree it, adding a little water if necessary to make the job easier. This will get rid of chunks, and also chop up any small bones you may have missed. Refrigerate this for up to a week, or freeze some. It’s a great treat for the dog(s), although I wouldn’t replace more than about a third of their daily intake with this, just to make sure they’re getting good balance.
Enjoy the holiday!
November 22nd, 2007
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Holiday, Food & Cooking |
4 comments
Joe Carter and I don’t agree on very much in this world. But we do agree that Jack Chick is a psycho nutjob.
October 31st, 2007
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Religion, Holiday |
2 comments
Never forget that most of the benefits we in the working class take for granted today are ones we have because people in labor unions literally fought, and sometimes died, to obtain them.
I have issues with some unions, but I’d much rather live in a world with them than without them.
September 3rd, 2007
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Holiday |
46 comments
I was going to ask Kevin and tgirsch this, but then figured why not throw it open? So here’s the task:
You’re driving across the country from LA to Philadelphia with your 10-year-old son, near the end of August. You have about 7-10 days to make the trip, and not a vast amount of money, but enough to do some sight-seeing. (And you’re my brother, if that matters.) The kid likes sports, science, and World of Warcraft, and is pretty well-behaved. You intend to pass through Washington, DC, but otherwise don’t have a firm plan as to what to do along the way.
Which route would you take: Highway 40 through Memphis/Nashville, or Highway 35/20 through Houston, New Orleans, and Atlanta? Other than the obvious (Graceland, BBQ & seafood joints, Civil War battlefields), what’s worth seeing? Other than the Grand Canyon, how do you fill up that vast wasteland between Death Valley and Houston (I mean the desert, not Bush’s head)? Any must-sees? Any must-avoids?
UPDATE: Well, they’re on their way, taking the Vegas/Grand Canyon/ . . . Memphis route. I think they’re just making it up as they go in the middle section. I passed along all the suggestions in the comments, and they were gratefully received. Thanks to everyone for your input.
August 16th, 2007
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General, Culture, Holiday |
8 comments
I’ve been thinking a bit about the upcoming 4th of July. Strangely, after dreary years of heartbreak and hatefulness, as America thrashes ever more savagely through the crisis phase of its rabid infection of war, fascism, and triumphalist corporatism, after witnessing a reactionary backlash so bitter and so vile it is impossible not to wonder whether America exists anymore, I feel within myself a tiny sense of reconnection, a dazed but no longer naive second wind of progressivism, a small and tentative, but real, retreat of hopelessness and a sense that my country still breathes, if fitfully. There are signs.
I’ve been thinking of writing something about that. It’s hard to justify a sense of “what America means to me”, though, in the face of the manifest and ugly ways it has ceased to be what it could be and was. But if hope for America is possible at all, we should find it and treasure it. I’ll see what I can do.
In the meantime, Andrew Sullivan already has a good take on the same theme, with his July 4 Contest: ”In the next two days, please send me any favorite quote, YouTube video or photograph that sums up for you the best of America.”
My entry:
Tom Joad: [M]aybe I can do somethin’… maybe I can just find out somethin’, just scrounge around and maybe find out what it is that’s wrong and see if they ain’t somethin’ that can be done about it. I ain’t thought it out all clear, Ma. I can’t. I don’t know enough.
Ma Joad: How am I gonna know about ya, Tommy? Why they could kill ya and I’d never know. They could hurt ya. How am I gonna know?
Tom Joad: Well, maybe it’s like Casy says. A fellow ain’t got a soul of his own, just little piece of a big soul, the one big soul that belongs to everybody, then…
Ma Joad: Then what, Tom?
Tom Joad: Then it don’t matter. I’ll be all around in the dark - I’ll be everywhere. Wherever you can look - wherever there’s a fight, so hungry people can eat, I’ll be there. Wherever there’s a cop beatin’ up a guy, I’ll be there. I’ll be in the way guys yell when they’re mad. I’ll be in the way kids laugh when they’re hungry and they know supper’s ready, and when the people are eatin’ the stuff they raise and livin’ in the houses they build - I’ll be there, too.
What’s yours?
July 2nd, 2007
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General, Culture, Holiday |
2 comments
I had hoped to write something yesterday, but something I saw fouled my mood irreparably. In yet another reminder that people like me are not welcome in the South, and have no business living in the South, my neighbor across the street decided to honor the day by flying a huge Confederate flag. I mean, what better way to honor the men and women who died (and who continue to die) to preserve and protect the Union than by flying the symbol of those who fought to destroy it? Even setting aside the racial issues (pretending for a moment that this is even possible), I’m not sure flying a symbol that clearly and unequivocally means “I don’t want to be part of the United States of America any more” is the best way to honor those who fight for the United States of America.
I swear, sometimes I just hate people.
May 29th, 2007
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Holiday |
111 comments
It was a summer evening,
Old Kaspar’s work was done,
And he before his cottage door
Was sitting in the sun;
And by him sported on the green
His little grandchild Wilhelmine.
She saw her brother Peterkin
Roll something large and round
Which he beside the rivulet
In playing there had found;
He came to ask what he had found
That was so large and smooth and round.
Old Kaspar took it from the boy,
Who stood expectant by;
And then the old man shook his head,
And with a natural sigh,
“‘Tis some poor fellow’s skull,” said he,
“Who fell in the great victory.”
The Iraq war, which for years has drawn militants from around the world, is beginning to export fighters and the tactics they have honed in the insurgency to neighboring countries and beyond, according to American, European and Middle Eastern government officials and interviews with militant leaders in Lebanon, Jordan and London.
… In an April 17 report written for the United States government, Dennis Pluchinsky, a former senior intelligence analyst at the State Department, said battle-hardened militants from Iraq posed a greater threat to the West than extremists who trained in Afghanistan because Iraq had become a laboratory for urban guerrilla tactics.
“I find them in the garden,
For there’s many here about;
And often, when I go to plough,
The ploughshare turns them out;
For many thousand men,” said he,
“Were slain in that great victory.”
Staff Sgt. David Safstrom does not regret his previous tours in Iraq, not even a difficult second stint when two comrades were killed while trying to capture insurgents.
“In Mosul, in 2003, it felt like we were making the city a better place,” he said. “There was no sectarian violence, Saddam was gone, we were tracking down the bad guys. It felt awesome.”
But now on his third deployment in Iraq, he is no longer a believer in the mission. The pivotal moment came, he says, this past February when soldiers killed a man setting a roadside bomb. When they searched the bomber’s body, they found identification showing him to be a sergeant in the Iraqi Army.
“I thought, ‘What are we doing here? Why are we still here?’ ” said Sergeant Safstrom, a member of Delta Company of the First Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division. “We’re helping guys that are trying to kill us. We help them in the day. They turn around at night and try to kill us.”
His views are echoed by most of his fellow soldiers in Delta Company, renowned for its aggressiveness.
“Now tell us what ’twas all about,”
Young Peterkin he cries;
And little Wilhelmine looks up
With wonder-waiting eyes;
“Now tell us all about the war,
And what they fought each other for.”
“It was the English,” Kaspar cried,
“Who put the French to rout;
But what they fought each other for
I could not well make out.
But everybody said,” quoth he,
“That ’twas a famous victory.
“Today is May 21,” a naval official declared to a camera videotaping the event. “Right now we’re ready to do a root canal treatment on Jose Padilla, our enemy combatant.”
Several guards in camouflage and riot gear approached cell No. 103. They unlocked a rectangular panel at the bottom of the door and Mr. Padilla’s bare feet slid through, eerily disembodied. As one guard held down a foot with his black boot, the others shackled Mr. Padilla’s legs. Next, his hands emerged through another hole to be manacled.
Wordlessly, the guards, pushing into the cell, chained Mr. Padilla’s cuffed hands to a metal belt. Briefly, his expressionless eyes met the camera before he lowered his head submissively in expectation of what came next: noise-blocking headphones over his ears and blacked-out goggles over his eyes. Then the guards, whose faces were hidden behind plastic visors, marched their masked, clanking prisoner down the hall to his root canal.
… In an affidavit filed Friday, he alleged that Mr. Padilla was held alone in a 10-cell wing of the brig; that he had little human contact other than with his interrogators; that his cell was electronically monitored and his meals were passed to him through a slot in the door; that windows were blackened, and there was no clock or calendar; and that he slept on a steel platform after a foam mattress was taken from him, along with his copy of the Koran, “as part of an interrogation plan.”
… Mr. Padilla was added as a defendant in a terrorism conspiracy case already under way in Miami. The strong public accusations made during his military detention — about the dirty bomb, Al Qaeda connections and supposed plans to set off natural gas explosions in apartment buildings — appear nowhere in the indictment against him. The indictment does not allege any specific violent plot against America.
“My father lived at Blenheim then,
Yon little stream hard by;
They burnt his dwelling to the ground,
And he was forced to fly:
So with his wife and child he fled,
Nor had he where to rest his head.
“With fire and sword the country round
Was wasted far and wide,
And many a childing mother then
And newborn baby died;
But things like that, you know, must be
At every famous victory.
As many as 654,965 more Iraqis may have died since hostilities began in Iraq in March 2003 than would have been expected under pre-war conditions, according to a survey conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Al Mustansiriya University in Baghdad. The deaths from all causes—violent and non-violent—are over and above the estimated 143,000 deaths per year that occurred from all causes prior to the March 2003 invasion.
They say it was a shocking sight
After the field was won;
For many thousand bodies here
Lay rotting in the sun;
But things like that, you know, must be
After a famous victory.
“Great praise the Duke of Marlbro’ won,
And our good Prince Eugene.”
“Why, ’twas a very wicked thing!”
Said little Wilhelmine.
“Nay…nay… my little girl,” quoth he,
“It was a famous victory.
An August 2002 OLC memo, signed by the then head of the OLC—Jay Bybee—but drafted by Yoo, gave the agency what it needed. The controversial document, which became famous as the “torture memo” when it leaked two years later, defined torture so narrowly that, short of maiming or killing a prisoner, interrogators had a free hand. What’s more, the memo claimed license for the president to order methods that would be torture by anyone’s definition—and to do it wholesale, and not just in specific cases. A very similar Yoo memo in March 2003 was even more expansive, authorizing military interrogators questioning terror suspects to ignore many criminal statutes—as well as the strict interrogation rules traditionally used by the military. Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld put some limits on interrogation techniques, and they were intended to be used only on true terror suspects. Perhaps inevitably, however, “coercive interrogation methods” spread from Guantanamo Bay, which housed terror suspects, into prisons like Abu Ghraib, where detainees could be almost anyone. (Poor leadership in the chain of command and on the ground was partly to blame, as well as loose or fuzzy legal rules.) The result: those grotesque images of Iraqis being humiliated by poorly trained and sadistic American prison guards, not to mention prisoners who have been brutalized and in some cases killed by interrogators in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
“And everybody praised the Duke
Who this great fight did win.”
“But what good came of it at last?”
Quoth little Peterkin.
“Why that I cannot tell,” said he,
“But ’twas a famous victory.”
-Robert Southey
May 28th, 2007
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General, Politics, Iraq, Terrorism, Holiday, Torture |
2 comments
This is how I roll.
(Click for larger image.)
The sad part is, my contribution to this picture is the “vase.” The flower came from our waiter, at our cheap-Mexican-restaurant Valentine’s Day dinner, which my wife paid for. I’m quite the romantic, no? Truly, I am my father’s son.
February 14th, 2007
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Holiday |
3 comments
Martin Luther King is the greatest American to have ever lived. The contest is not in doubt. Dr. King was the first American to effectively demand of the country that it live up to its ideals. He demanded that White America start actually trying to be America, and in many ways, he succeeded. This country, while still far from its ideals, is closer to them because of Dr. King’s work. The Civil Rights movement pre-dated Dr. King by sixty to eighty years, depending on how you wish to view history, but Dr. King built upon the successes of those earlier movements and achieved a remarkable breakthrough. Dr. King and his movement refused to accept that White Americans would not live up to the ideals in their Constitution and persevered until, at least officially, they did. The struggle is far from over, but Dr. King and his movement achieved more towards the goal of true equality than probably anyone before or since.
Some links:
Dave Neiwert’s series on eliminationism in the United States continues with a look at Sundown Towns.
Robert Stein draws a line between Dr. King’s work and the rise of Barack Obama.
January 15th, 2007
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Politics, Holiday |
16 comments
Language warning: The easily offended should not proceed.
December 28th, 2006
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Holiday, Humor |
4 comments
It was a pretty good year. Christmas, to me, is much more about giving than receiving. But it’s more fun to talk about the things you’ve received. The most notable things I got:
- A reciprocating saw
- A remote control Zamboni (the Canucks are my second team, and my wife couldn’t find the Maple Leafs)
- A bag of lead-free ammo (if you’re going to shoot someone, no sense wrecking the environment while you do it…)
- Several pieces of All-Clad Stainless cookware (the good stuff, for those of us too lazy to clean copper)
- An Amazon.com gift card from a co-blogger who’s more on the ball than I am with this whole holiday shopping thing.
All-in-all, a very good year.
December 26th, 2006
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Holiday |
no comments
I know I’m not the first to observe this, but Christmas isn’t really one holiday. It’s more like two. There’s the religious holiday, which celebrates the purported birth of the savior of mankind, thus enabling the eventual sacrifice to nullify human sin. And then there’s the secular holiday, much of it born of pagan traditions, that involves the winter solstice, trees, lights, the exchange of gifts, and most importantly, gathering with one’s family, friends, and loved ones. Almost from the beginning, these two holidays have been intertwined, with the early Christian church borrowing the date from pagan solstice tradition, and maintaining trappings inherited from Mithraism.
While I have no quarrel with the religious holiday, it should come as no surprise that I strongly prefer the secular one. Because Christmas has become so secularized that I don’t have a problem with the government making it an official holiday (despite my otherwise extremely strict church/state policy). And I argue that it is precisely because it is so secularized that Christmas has become as popular as it is today. It’s by far the most popular holiday, despite the fact that it isn’t even the most important Christian holiday (a distinction which belongs to Easter).
For all my griping about family, the friends and family are by far the most important part of the holiday. I very enjoyed the chance to relax and catch up with family. With people moving around the country, it’s about the only chance I get to do so. It’s worth taking a moment to think about those who, for whatever reason, cannot do so, and offer whatever support you can.
But no matter why you celebrate Christmas, and even for those of you who don’t, I hope the holiday season has been good to you, and that you’ve had an opportunity to reconnect and recharge. And for those who can’t be with family, I hope that reunion can happen soon.
December 25th, 2006
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Holiday |
10 comments
Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Solstice, Happy Hanukkah and Happy anything else you celebrate that I may have missed. I hope you all have a wonderful holiday, whatever you may celebrate.
December 25th, 2006
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Holiday, Xmas Lyric of the Day |
2 comments
OK - I’ve got one, too.
My favorite Christmas carol is this:
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
I saw Mommy kissing Santa Claus
Underneath the mistletoe last night
She didn’t see me creep
Down the stairs to have a peep
She thought that I was tucked up in my bedroom fast asleep
And I saw Mommy tickle Santa Claus
Underneath his beard so snowy white
What a laugh it would have been
If Daddy had only seen
Mommy kissing Santa Claus last night!
This is a great Christmas carol for several reasons. For one, it carries with it the poignant imminence of the kid’s realization that there is no Santa Claus. The singer doesn’t quite get it yet, but you know they’ll figure it out soon enough, and the hook to the song is that the audience clearly realizes what the kid doesn’t yet know. I can’t stress enough the importance to a good Christmas carol of a firm denial of belief in mythical beings with supernatural powers. The added fact that Santa is a quasi-religious character (deriving from “Saint Nicholas”, an historical Catholic figure) embodying certain Christ-like traits makes this one of the rare, and therefore precious, pro-atheist Christmas carols.
On a similar note, it carries with it the distant implication of the kid’s eventual sexual awakening, which is the second-most important element of a good Christmas carol. When the singer finally realizes what was really going on with Mommy and Santa Claus, Christmas is going to take on a whole new meaning.
And finally, there is the true nature of that under-mistletoe action, discernible only to the adult mind. I mean, figure it: if the kid actually saw “Santa Claus” with a “beard so snowy white”, that means that Daddy must have been dressed up as Santa to put presents under the tree while the kid was supposed to be asleep, which means that Daddy wears a Santa costume for reasons that have nothing to do with entertaning children, and further, we surmise from the kid’s description of Mommy’s reaction, that turns Mommy on. Here we have the true meaning of the song, and the essence of its Christmas-carol magnificence: Mommy and Daddy are into Santa Claus dress-up kink! Now that’s the spirit of Christmas!
So, I give you the world’s greatest Christmas carol: free-thinking, realist, kinda sexy, and perverted! Everything I want Christmas to be!
December 24th, 2006
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General, Religion, Culture, Holiday, Xmas Lyric of the Day |
42 comments
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