Huckabee Aides Going Unpaid

Several top advisers for Mike Huckabee’s struggling presidential campaign have been forced to work without pay. What do you think?

Craig Rogers,
Production Assistant
“Just what we need, more deadbeat Republicans on the unemployment rolls.”

Simon Smith,
Baggage Handler
“Maybe Chuck Norris is starting to cost more in food and lodging than he’s worth.”

Brix Scanlon,
Touch Screen Repairwoman
“Just goes to show you how hard some people will work for the achievement of a national catastrophe.”

TheOnion.com

Today’s photo of the day shows Lil Wayne, who was recently arrested for possession of cocaine and ecstasy. I’m sincerely worried about Lil Wayne, whose addictions are ruining one of the most promising rap careers ever….

Today’s video of the day is “Action” by Terror and Nadine. This is still the jam!!!!

Here’s what’s in mine:

Lupe Fiasco – Paris, Tokyo
Common – The Light
Camp Lo – Luchini
Luther Vandross – Can I Take You Out Tonight
Black Star – Respiration
Sinnerman – Nina Simone
Lupe Fiasco – Gold Watch
Talib Kweli – Eat to Live
Usher & Alicia Keys – My Boo
Alicia Keys – Wreckless Love
Erykah Badu – I Want You
Ghosttown DJs – My Boo
Hootie and the Blowfish – Goodbye Girl
Terror and Nadine – Action
Where I’m From – Digable Planets
Nora Jones – Don’t Know Why
Beanie Man & Mya – If I Could Be Your Girl
Brownstone – If You Love Me
Floetry – Superstar
Alicia Keys – Teenage Love Affair

My Frustration With King Day
Matt Birkhold

Without question Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of the most significant human beings ever born in the United States.  Because of this, he is the only American to have a holiday named after him.  This past weekend I saw countless events advertised that all claimed to be either celebrating, or carrying on the legacy of Dr. King.  Unfortunately, very few of these events proceed with an understanding of King’s actual legacy.

Talking about King’s legacy requires that we move beyond his dream and deal with his radical belief that, “in order to conquer the giant triplets of racism, militarism, and economic exploitation, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values, which would “cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our privileges.”  We must acknowledge that society is spiritually sick; ruled by a need to consume and fears of rejection, we are kept from acting in the interests of justice.  If we don’t start here, we are only taking a day off work.

Beginning Easter weekend 1963, King started to walk a path to social justice characterized by strong principles and an undying commitment to love and justice rarely talked about.  By 1967 King spoke out against the Vietnam War because he was determined to take gospel seriously, and because he agreed with Dante, who said that the hottest places in hell were reserved for those who, in a period of great moral crisis, remained silent.  By 1967, King was not solely concerned with integration or racism.  By then, he was convinced that racism was merely part of what he called the “triple evils of militarism, racism, and economic exploitation,” which could only be ended by revolutionary change.

By the time of his death, King understood that the struggle for civil and human rights could not be achieved in the US without a revolution because our values would not permit it.  Because the US had become “a thing oriented society” that placed profit before human wellbeing, the struggle for human and civil rights could only be accomplished if we, as a society, began the struggle to overcome our need to consume, which would allow us to become a people oriented society.

The radical revolution in values that such a change required would also lead us away from simply wanting to help people to “one day see that the whole Jericho road must be changed.”   Band-aid solutions to poverty would lose appeal because “a true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, ‘This is not just.’”

King’s legacy goes far beyond a dream about little black boys and girls being judged by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.  To carry King’s legacy of commitment to truth, justice and love, we as a society must not only undergo a radical revolution of values, but also develop the courage to tell the truth and stand up to injustice regardless of the personal and economic costs.  By doing so we will find a freedom that no amount of money could ever produce and in the process we will create the just world King envisioned.