MLK: ‘A Time Comes When Silence is Betrayal’

19 Comments on “MLK: ‘A Time Comes When Silence is Betrayal’”

1. The silence of the oppressors and the thunder of the oppressed continues.

2. How many roads must a man walk down
   Before you call him a man?
   Yes, ‘n’ how many seas must a white dove sail
   Before she sleeps in the sand?
   Yes, ‘n’ how many times must the cannon balls fly
   Before they’re forever banned?
   The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
   The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

   How many times must a man look up
   Before he can see the sky?
   Yes, ‘n’ how many ears must one man have
   Before he can hear people cry?
   Yes, ‘n’ how many deaths will it take till he knows
   That too many people have died?
   The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
   The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

   How many years can a mountain exist
   Before it’s washed to the sea?
   Yes, ‘n’ how many years can some people exist
   Before they’re allowed to be free?
   Yes, ‘n’ how many times can a man turn his head,
   Pretending he just doesn’t see?
   The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind,
   The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

   (Bob Dylan).

3. Iran target of US Gulf military moves, Gates says

   Increased US military activity in the Gulf is aimed at Iran’s “very negative” behaviour, the Bush administration said today.

   Speaking in Brussels after meeting Nato officials, Mr Gates said: “We are simply reaffirming that statement of the importance of the Gulf region to the United States and our determination to be an ongoing strong presence in that area for a long time into the future.”

   mick

4. Presidential Candidate Fears “Gulf Of Tonkin” To Provoke Iran War

   Republican Congressman and 2008 Presidential candidate Ron Paul fears a staged Gulf of Tonkin style incident may be used to provoke air strikes on Iran as numerous factors collide to heighten expectations that America may soon be embroiled in its third war in six years.

   mick

5. The military-industrial-complex [would] cause military spending to be driven not by national security needs but by a network of weapons makers, lobbyists and elected officials. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

   There are only two things we should fight for. One is the defense of our homes and the other is the Bill of Rights. War for any other reason is simply a racket. — General Smedley D. Butler

   mick

6. National security needs have been completely buried by the scam. Not only is it a war profiteering racket, but it’s a worldwide protection racket in the form of arms sales. (Not to mention its manifestation domestically in fear propaganda — caricatured by Darleen on another thread.)

   The world can’t afford the military-industrial-complex. It has to go.

7. Check out arms sales facts and figures here.

8. .. .. .. .. ..
   Anybody here seen my old friend Abraham?
   Can you tell me where he’s gone?
   He freed lotta people but it seems the good they die young
   You know I just looked around and he’s gone

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

   Anybody here seen my old friend Martin?
   Can you tell me where he’s gone?
   He freed 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

   Anybody here seen my old friend Bobby?
   Can you tell me where he’s gone?
   I thought I saw him walkin’ up over the hill
   With Abraham, Martin, and John

   Words and Music by Richard Holler 1968

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmhXdf6w1RQ

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHzeNpZQRPA

   http://www.answers.com/topic/abraham-martin-john

9. MLK — “We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and for justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.” (We’ve been dragged.)

   My personal favorite — “…one day we must come to see that peace is not merely a distant goal we seek, but that it is a means by which we arrive at that goal.”

   See this

   And, to give some of us some hope 🙂 “Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.”

10. JOJ
    Thank you! You’ve made me belly laugh (the tool/bar quote) and cry in the past two days. Check out Emmy Lou’s medley version just after Dion’s.
    Crank it up folks and sing along! (Dion’s version is easiest to sing to, but let it download first)
    I’ve been listening to Johnny Cash’s LOVE GOD MURDER. Man, I miss him TOO!

11. Oh yeah, No doubt about it Whitney’s version is my favorite!
    WOW
    THANKS LADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

12. inherit this kiddies…

    “Revealed: US comptroller says US taxes would have to double to pay for Bush budget in 2040 ”

    why do they hate the kids so much

13. Dr. Martin Luther King is the Gandhi of the United States.

    Gandhi brought independence to the largest democracy on earth … without firing a shot:

    Throughout his life, Gandhi remained committed to non-violence and truth even in the most extreme situations. A student of Hindu philosophy, he lived simply, organizing an ashram that was self-sufficient in its needs. Making his own clothes—the traditional Indian dhoti and shawl woven with a charkha, he lived on a simple vegetarian diet. He used rigorous fasts, for long periods, for both self-purification and protest. Gandhi’s life and teachings inspired Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Steve Biko and Aung San Suu Kyi and through them the American civil rights movement and the freedom struggles in South Africa and Myanmar respectively. In India, Gandhi is recognized as the Father of the Nation. October 2nd, his birthday, is each year commemorated as Gandhi Jayanti, and is a national holiday.

    (Mahatma Gandhi).

    The neoCon false doctrine that peace and freedom are composed of bullets ripping the life out of human beings is just a craze of the crazoids.

    Wow, compare what Gandhi did with the largest democracy on earth without firing a shot, and what The Dick “Gundie” Cheney has done with Iraq with shock and awe.

14. To MMIIXX:
    Check out the documentary Why We Fight, which can be found at video places. Also Robert Greenwald’s Iraq, The War Profiteers. But beware, they made me physically ill after watching.

15. A MAYONNAISE JAR AND 2 CUPS OF COFFEE

    When things in your life seem almost too much too
    handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough,
    remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 cups of coffee.

    A professor stood before his philosophy class and had
    some items in front of him.

    When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very
    large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill
    it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the
    jar was full. They agreed that it was.

    The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and
    poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly.
    The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the
    golf balls. He then asked the students again if the
    jar was full they agreed it was.

    The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured
    it into the jar . Of course, the sand filled up
    everything else. He asked once more if the jar was
    full. The students responded with a unanimo us “yes.”

    The professor then produced two cups of coffee from
    under the table and poured the entire contents into
    the jar, effectively filling the empty space between
    the sand. The students laughed.

    “Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided,
    “I want you to recognize that this jar represents
    your life. The golf balls are the important things-
    your God, family, your children, your health, your
    friends, and your favorite passions–things that if
    everything else was lost and only they remained your
    life would still be full.

    The pebbles are the other things that matter like your
    job, your house, and your car.

    The sand is everything else — the small stuff.

    If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued,
    “there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls.
    The same goes for life. If you spend all your time
    and energy on the small stuff, you will never have
    room for the things that are importan t to you.

    Pay attention to the things that are critical to your
    happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get
    medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner.
    Play another 18. There will always be time to clean
    the house and fix the disposal.”

    Take care of the golf balls first — the things that
    really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just
    sand.”

    One of the students raised her hand and inquired what
    the coffee represented.

    The professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just
    goes to show you that no matter how full your life may
    seem, there’s always room for a couple of cups of
    coffee with a friend.”

16. Wow. What a great speaker.
    Dredd – thanks for the dylan.
    One of the first songs I learned on the guitar.

17. Dredd could you see the golf ball or anything through the coffee tint ?

18. DREDD great story and theres still room from sugar !

    mick

19. I have to admit, I’m not an expert on MLK, but I’m sure the media, (as usual), is to blame. Some channel played a large part of his very famous speech in front of the Lincoln monument, and it was stunning. All I had heard until that day is a couple of sound bites from it.

    Of course, he suffered the ultimate form of censorship soon after that.

    The sixties civil rights achievements scared the patriarchs, and so they spent the next forty years fighting it. Time to revive the feeling of hope that short period gave us.

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