Martin Luther King Jr.: January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968

Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
Can you tell me where he's gone?
He freed a lotta people but it seems the good they die young
I just looked around and he's gone

Didn't you love the things that they stood for?
Didn't they try to find some good for you and me?
And we'll be free
Some day soon, it's gonna be one day

"Abraham, Martin and John" by Dion & the Belmonts

Today, April 4, 2008, is the 40th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. King died that day, the victim of a bullet to the head, on the 2nd floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee while visiting in support of striking sanitation workers.

Jesse Jackson, who was with Dr. King at the time of the shooting, confirms that the last words spoken by Dr. King were to his friend & musician Ben Branch, who was to perform at a gathering later that evening. Those words, according to the 2006 book, At Canaan's Edge: America in the King Years, 1965-68, were "Ben, make sure you play Take My Hand, Precious Lord in the meeting tonight. Play it real pretty." It was his friend, the great, Grammy-award winning gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson, who sang the song, his favorite hymn, at his funeral at Ebeneezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, where he is buried.

James Earl Ray subsequently confessed to Dr. King's murder on March 10, 1969.

Below is a couple of clips of speeches given by Dr. King. The first one is part of the final speech that Dr. King gave the night before his death at the age of 39. Next is a clip of an anti-war speech given by Sen. Robert Kennedy, who also assassinated in 1968--2 months & 2 days after Dr. King's death. Another shorter clip of Dr. King follows that.

Dr. King helped to introduce hope & the very concept of freedom to people of every different color & every walk of life, many of whom may have known the literal meanings of the words "hope" & "freedom", but who had never been personally familiar with the ideas that the words represent.

In the song, "America The Beautiful," I am reminded of the man who set all of us free:

O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife.
Who more than self their country loved
And mercy more than life!

There is no way to properly describe what this world lost when Dr. King was taken from us. For so many--then & now--he was the very symbol of the potential our country had/has to be so much more than we think we are.

Even in death, he still reminds us today that what the world sees on the outside is the least of who we really are as beloved children of God.

Because of all he did for the Kingdom of God on earth while he was still here, he still speaks of his dream & of his undying hope for his beloved country & of his eternal belief that it is right that will make might...one day.

In his historic refusal to give up fighting the good fight, he still gently prods all who care about equality & justice to keep seeking the Promised Land.

Sometimes, it seems we still have so far to go, but, in Dr. King's honor, & because we really have no choice but to do the right thing, we must never allow ourselves to tire, and we must never take our eyes off the prize that Dr. King & so many others have earned with their precious blood. We must gently, yet steadfastly, continue that good fight even when we feel we have no fight left. It's what Dr. King did & it's what any lovers of liberty must do.

Dr. King: "All we say to America is, 'Be true to what you said on paper.' If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, maybe I could understand some of these illegal injunctions; maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they hadn't committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the Freedom of Assembly. Somewhere I read of the Freedom of Speech. Somewhere I read of the Freedom of Press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for rights. So just as I say, we aren't going to let any dogs or water hoses turn us around; we aren't going to let any injunction turn us around."

"Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead, but it really doesn't matter with me now because I've been to the mountaintop, and I don't mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain, and I've looked over, and I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So, I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord."

Sen. Robert F. Kennedy: "I don't think any of us will be satisfied in the United States until that war is brought to an honorable end and American soldiers are brought back here to the United States."

Dr. King: "One day we will have to stand before the God of history and we will talk in terms of things we’ve done."

"It seems that I can hear the God of history saying, 'That was not enough! But I was hungry, and ye fed me not...'"

In the interest of complete historical accuracy, the remainder of Dr. King's last quote follows here: "...I was naked, and ye clothed me not. I was devoid of a decent sanitary house to live in, and ye provided no shelter for me. And consequently, you cannot enter the kingdom of greatness. If ye do it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye do it unto me.' That’s the question facing America today."

April Fool's Trick Played by Gmail?!?!

http://mail.google.com/mail/help/customtime/index.html

What a GREAT IDEA!!! Send an email retroactively with a date all the way back to as far as April 1, 2004??? But you only get 10 per year because, as Gmail rightly notes, using it more often, "would cause people to lose faith in the accuracy of time, thus rendering the feature useless."

I have to admit that I believed this for about 14.5 seconds...

Til I read under their "How Does It Work" section that, "Gmail utilizes an e-flux capacitor to resolve issues of causality..."

The testimony from beta users like "Miriam S., a delivery girl" was pretty good:

"The entire concept of 'late' no longer exists for me. That's pretty cool. Thanks Gmail!"

The best testimony I saw, though, was from "Todd J., Investment Banker":

"I used to be an honest person; but now I don't have to be. It's just so much easier this way. I've gained a lot of productivity by not having to think about doing the 'right' thing."

I don't know how, after reading that, I thought this could be an April Fool's trick. After all, since when would an investment banker (or any banker) have EVER been an HONEST person! Puleeze!

In all honesty, Gmail did a great job with this one!!!

Kudos to my beloved email provider!!!

Thank God for Wealthy Widows Who Want To Remain Anonymous!

I know that Matthew Budge & his family got a lot of prayers around the county & the world once the Texas TV station played his story.

Well, it seems that, as James 5:16 says, "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," because, according to WFAA TV (see link below), "a wealthy widow who wants to be anonymous" has come to the family's rescue & has offered to pay all the fees! I am quite sure she's not doing it for the hurting family, but for the obviously near-indigent apartment complex that needs the money so desperately (please note extreme sarcasm in that last sentence)!

So, it seems that my aforementioned outrage has now been replaced by thankfulness that the world still has at least one or two "righteous" men (and women!!)!

:-)

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/localnews/news8/stories/wfaa080331_jh_budgesamaritan.1c84cc23.html

Man dying of cancer not allowed out of his apartment lease

This is just wrong. Had to share my outrage...

Here's his story & the video from the local TV station...

MCKINNEY, Texas -- Matt Budge worries his time is short. A month ago the 36 year-old found out he was dying of a rare form of cancer. He’s scrambling to move his family with relatives in Utah.

But when he tried to break his lease at his McKinney apartment, four months early, he says the complex told him he would owe thousands in fees and rent. “For an apartment complex like this, $9,000 is not a whole lot of money. But for us that's a huge amount of money,” said Budge.

Included in that $9,000 bill: $3200, two months in future rent, and then thousands more in fees. And even items, like re-imbursing the complex for a $75 credit given after a water leak.

He says his numerous appeals remain unanswered.

“We had the bishop of our congregation contact them and try to appeal to their sense of compassion and explain the situation, nothing there. It’s like talking to a wall. They express sympathy and say there's nothing we can do,” said Steve Buys, friend of the family.

The complex is holding them to the letter of the contract, and not doing much talking about it.

The Budge’s are trying to focus on Matt’s health. For now they’re relying on friends, and their faith.

“Our future is in the hands of the Lord, not in a lease. But we would like to see them do the right thing,” said Crystal Budge.

Video = http://www.kvue.com/news/state/stories/032908kvuecancerapartment-mm.12598a49.html#

Yes, THEY can!

I have to think that Barack Obama must understand that, besides smashing all the rules of the tired old "conventional wisdom", he is helping so many of us to see that the first steps in changing the way things are is refusing to buy into the idea that we are hopeless & powerless & refusing to relinquish the real power symbolized by the three little words, "Yes, We Can!".

This video shows how Obama's campaign & his message have moved even the kids in a tough Bronx, New York school to become more engaged in the world around them & to start thinking--maybe for the first time in their young lives--that Yes, THEY Can do great things!

The video is over 13 minutes long, but it's worth every second.



Trivia answer for June 9, 2008 post: Lettuce

Your Grandpa for President???

Read this on CNN.com (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/03/28/cafferty-age-a-bigger-factor-in-election-than-race-gender/) today, and I needed to share...

While the Democrats sweat it out over how voters perceive race and gender in this election, maybe it's time for the Republicans to take a look at how Americans feel about electing a 71-year-old man.

If John McCain wins, he will be the oldest person ever to serve a first term as president. And a new survey out suggests that the public might have more doubts about voting for someone of McCain's age for president than they would for an African-American or a woman.

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows 72% of those surveyed say voters are ready to elect a qualified black candidate, 18% say they're not. Meanwhile, 71% say Americans are ready to vote for a woman, 20% say they're not. But only 61% say the voters are prepared to vote for a person over 70, while 29% say they're not. Not exactly encouraging numbers for McCain and the Republicans.

Obama vs. Hasselbeck

The Senator-Who-Would-Be-President will have his chance to discuss timely political issues with Barbara, Whoopi, Joy, Sherri & Survivor-Loser-John-McSame-Cheerleader Elizabeth Hasselbeck this Friday when he is the guest of ABC's The View.

I'll lay odds that the GOP's Far-Right Mommy Of The Year winner is just chomping at the bit to make sure that as much of the conversation revolves around Jeremiah Wright as possible. I'm sure she'll push as many Hillary buttons as possible too, for good measure. She's gotta keep the Democrats' in-fighting going right along so Dubya's grandpa-protégé can conserve his strength for November.