40th Anniversary of the Assasination of Dr. Martin Luther King jr.

40 years ago today MLK jr. was assasinated. I wanted to honor him on this blog dedicated to conservativism because I think his theories on racial justice echo what I believe are conservative perspectives today, and although there is reason to believe he also had very liberal stances on economics etc. all Americans have a fair claim to some of his beliefs, his speeches "I have a Dream," "Mountain Top," and his letter from Birmingham jail are some of the most powerful words ever declared and clearly transcend any party lines. Martin Luther King jr. despite being human, was and is an incredible American. When of my personal mottoes was initially stated by MLK jr., "an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere"

Here are a couple of articles worth looking at:

A moment frozen in time: Witnesses recall King's death

MLK Honored on 40th Anniversary of Assassination

COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT BETTER MYSELF

Howard Dean, the "Yee Haw" Democratic presidential candidate of years past who is currently serving as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is trying to find a way to end the fight between Hillary and Barack. Why?, because he too sees what a mess his rules and current DNC make up are creating as the public is beginning to sway towards republican candidate John McCain. Click here to read the article in the Washington Times that adequately describes the problem the DNC has created for itself in creating rules that have kept the race closer that it would have been in years past as well as fumbling and finding themselves unable to formally recognize votes in Florida and Michigan. Howard Dean's fears are real and already coming to fruition including the fear mentioned in the article that recognizes that the current presidential fight can be seen as the Democratic Party unable to govern itself let alone the country. I COULD NOT HAVE SAID IT ANY BETTER MYSELF.

McCain Begins to Retell His Story

I have said before that when people hear his war/POW stories he will become the next president despite some of his own electorate not being so enthused about his stances. Well his campaign is beginning to open that chapter of the campaign. He began the narrative of his life on the campaign trail citing his military and honorable heritage, soon he will transition to his time in Vietnam. This is the winning strategy for McCain.
The democrats are playing into this by making the war in Iraq one of the main issues and combating McCain over a comment he made about a 100 year potential presence in Iraq. This has been their strategy form the get go because the war is so unpopular, it is a strategy that may have worked against any other republican candidate. However, McCain will win if the main issue of this presidential campaign has anything to do with military or war, once people familiarize or re-familiarize themselves with his story coupled with recent successes in Iraq. Even if they begin to recognize the failed strategy McCain can site his story when talking about other issues, for example his story regarding the pledge of allegiance.........

"As you may know, I spent five and one half years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War. In the early years of our imprisonment, the NVA kept us in solitary confinement or two or three to a cell. In 1971 the NVA moved us from these conditions of isolation into large rooms with as many as 30 to 40 men to a room.

This was, as you can imagine, a wonderful change and was a direct result of the efforts of millions of Americans on behalf of a few hundred POWs 10,000 miles from home.

One of the men who moved into my room was a young man named Mike Christian.

Mike came from a small town near Selma , Alabama . He didn't wear a pair of shoes until he was 13 years old. At 17, he enlisted in the US Navy. He later earned a commission by going to Officer Training School Then he became a Naval Flight Officer and was shot down and captured in 1967. Mike had a keen and deep appreciation of the opportunities this country and our military provide for people who want to work and want to succeed.

As part of the change in treatment, the Vietnamese allowed some prisoners to receive packages from home. In some of these packages were handkerchiefs, scarves and other items of clothing.

Mike got himself a bamboo needle. Over a period of a couple of months, he created an American flag and sewed on the inside of his shirt.

Every afternoon, before we had a bowl of soup, we would hang Mike's shirt on the wall of the cell and say the Pledge of Allegiance.

I know the Pledge of Allegiance may not seem the most important part of our day now, but I can assure you that in that stark cell it was indeed the most important and meaningful event.

One day the Vietnamese searched our cell, as they did periodically, and discovered Mike's shirt with the flag sewn inside, and removed it.

That evening they returned, opened the door of the cell, and for the benefit of all of us, beat Mike Christian severely for the next couple of hours. Then, they opened the door of the cell and threw him in. We cleaned him up as well as we could.

The cell in which we lived had a concrete slab in the middle on which we slept Four naked light bulbs hung in each corner of the room.

As I said, we tried to clean up Mike as well as we could. After the excitement died down, I looked in the corner of the room, and sitting there beneath that dim light bulb with a piece of red cloth, another shirt and his bamboo needle, was my friend, Mike Christian. He was sitting there with his eyes almost shut from the beating he had received, making another American flag. He was not making the flag because it made Mike Christian feel better. He was making that flag because he knew how important it was to us to be able to Pledge our allegiance to our flag and country.

So the next time you say the Pledge of Allegiance, you must never forget the sacrifice and courage that thousands of Americans have made to build our nation and promote freedom around the world. You must remember our duty, our honor, and our country."

How can you not vote for that???????