Words from Dr. King

Praise is due to those media outlets that have used the anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to revisit his speeches and his philosophy instead of merely invoking his name. When I hear King talk, I am amazed at how the man refused to speak down to people. His words were filled with literary allusion and historical reference. It is often said that the American people don't respond to intellectualism; that they need to be talked to "at there level." This almost invariably means that the US public only understands the repetition of meaningless catchphrases, appeals to emotion, and the use of arguments devoid of information and ungrounded in reality.

King refused to do this. His is not an empty rhetoric: it is reasoned, articulate, and intelligent. Here's a video set to MLK speaking out against the War in Vietnam.

It's not a huge leap to see this speech as criticism of the Iraq War in addition to Vietnam because King is speaking out against that special brand of hypocrisy that comes with militaristic patriotism. He says mockingly, "Oh, the press was so noble in its applause, so noble in its praise when I was saying, 'be nonviolent towards Bull Conner.' There's something strangely inconsistent about a nation and a press that would praise you when you said, 'be nonviolent towards Jim Clark' but will curse and damn you when you say, 'be nonviolent toward little brown Vietnamese children.' There's something wrong with that press."

So, we come to the present day, when the powers that be say that US is entitled, no obligated, to invade Iraq because of threats to national security even as those threats were not overt and later proven false. And, those same people who once said that US must respond to this invented danger now demand that Iran remain silent and passive in the face of overt threats of military action and even nuclear attack from the US government. Apparently, only the US has the right to respond to violent threats or to issue them.

King also alludes to a connection between "the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism" or also phrased as "poverty, racism, and militarism." It seems to be the role of so much of the media to pull these issues apart and pretend they are separate.

Finally, I hear the inspiration for the recently scandalous words of Jeremiah Wright when King says ,"Don't let anybody make you think that God chose America as his divine messianic force to be. A sort of policeman of the whole world. God has a way of standing before the nations with judgement and is seems that I can hear God saying to America, 'You are too arrogant.'" Inflammatory rhetoric indeed. I wonder if Obama will be condemning, in unequivocal terms, the words of Dr. King?

Smedley, Take Me Away

In honor of the 4th o' July, here's a tribute to a great american hero, Smedley Butler.


Even though his real name was more retro than hula hoops, his nicknames go even further to prove the man as great: "old duckboard", "old gimlet eye", and "the fighting quaker". And what a fighting quaker he was. He fought in Mexico, Cuba, China (the Boxer Rebellion), Honduras, and Haiti. He got the medal of honor twice and actually tried to give it back once because he didn't believe that he earned it. Now, that's a mensch.

Old Duckboard became director of public safety in Philadelphia during prohibition and did such a good job of cracking down on corruption that he was fired. Although I haven't found any mention of angry yelling, the rest of the story sounds like vintage Phili.

He also exposed an attempted coup by business interests which plotted to overthrow FDR. There's a bit of exciting history I don't remember seeing in any school books. Basically, in 1933, a bunch of wealthy industrialists unhappy with FDR's populist New Deal policies like social security and the WPA tried to enlist Old Gimlet Eye to become a military dictator and rule with their interests in mind. They chose Butler due to his immense popularity among veterans and service men at the time. The Fighting Quaker would have none of it. He turned them in and to no one's surprise no the whole affair was investigated enough to show that Butler was probably right and then dropped.

A lot that aforementioned popularity came from his support of the marches of the Bonus Army which in and of itself is a fascinating chapter in American history.

And of course, Smedley spent his post military years advocating for peace, exposing the collusion between foreign policy and American industrial interests, and speaking out against the military-industrial complex.

Here's a famous quote from his book, War is a Racket:

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927, I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested.