Dreams, Rodeo Clown Asshats, and Further Divisions

Today marks the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech given on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Long considered one of the benchmarks of the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and 1960s, King's vision of an America where racism wasn't woven into the system itself and character mattered more than skin color has become taught in schools and part of our history with a message that shouldn't be messed with.

Which brings us to today. Right wing pundit and self described "rodeo clown" Glenn Beck is holding his "Restore Honor" march and rally at the same location. Claiming to be a benefit to raise money for a charity for the families of soldiers, Beck's real motive has come through in the publicizing of the event.

First, he claims that black people don't own Dr. Martin Luther King. Never mind that nobody said they did just as nobody gets upset if a white person claims MLK as one of their personal heroes, Beck is using this as a smear to claim that those people in the civil rights movement who continue to work on liberal causes have stolen King's legacy. IN fact, Glenn Beck says this event will "recalim Dr. King's legacy." To say that is a form of arrogance that's a combination of scary, ignorant, and plain out fucking stupid.

I know some people might say, "Dr. King talked about content of character. So does Beck and the conservatives. So why do you attack Glenn Beck?" Well, once you know the facts it's quite easy to debunk Glenn Beck's fucking bullshit on this issue.

First up goes into religion. Within the past year or so Glenn Beck has spent a lot of time attacking churches that preach "social justice." Beck's claim is that social justice is code for communism and Nazism. How does that compare with Dr. King? Dr. King devoted and gave his life for social justice. In King's later years he spoke out against poverty, attended rallies for striking workers, and even spoke out against the war in Vietnam. The media response was King being attacked as "having diminished his usefulness to his movement" and as a perceived communist just as the right wing in this country do today thanks to people like Beck, Sarah Palin and the like.

Then there's the political angle. There have been some people in the past couple of decades who like to say that if Dr. Martin Lither King Jr. were alive today he'd be a conservative. While we'll never know if that's true given that King was assassinated in 1968, a look at the last years of his life indicate otherwise. King, in fact, had moved beyond his earlier views to the point of considering the Vietnam War "an enemy of poor people" and supporting a "guaranteed annual income" and that the movement itself must "restructure the the whole of American society."

It's possible for people's views to change over time. However, judging from what we see here if Dr. King were alive today he'd be attacked by the same people who today are trying to "reclaim" him. Some even say King would've ended up on Beck's black board. Media Matters even shows how he'd fit on there.

So what is Beck and his ilk doing? Basically, on one level he's dropping trou and taking a giant runny shit on everything Dr. King stood for and then claiming he's honoring our troops in the process. However, it goes deeper than that.

Beck and company may not know history but I do think they're aware of how Dr. King's legacy has been frozen in 1963. BY often overlooking King's work on labor issues and against the Vietnam war in the last few years of his life, King had been co-opted and turned into a harmless figure in the eyes of the American mainstream. Because of this, it's easy for conservatives to claim that King would be one of them. Knowing that most people are too busy to fully research current issues and that American History is often so poorly taught (by design, in my opinion) that it keeps people from learning what really went down, it's easy for those wanting to distort the facts to twist things to their will.

That is what Beck and his ilk have symbolically done to Dr. King today. Their cherry picking of facts have created a situation where people are being misled about an American hero who was far more radical than the schools have taught them. Thus, any claims that they will reclaim King's legacy ring as hollow as the tears Glenn cries at any given moment on TV (thanks to his friend Vapo rub).

Does Glenn Beck and his scary band of neocon liars have a right to say what they want? Of course. However, their attempt to claim Dr. King as one of their own is not only insensitive but dishonest to the nth degree.

When all is said and done it's just another layer of bullshit that those wanting to know real history have to dive through to find out what things are really like.

Some Stuff on G-20

This past weekend marked the kickoff of the G20 conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Like many people I knew little of what was going on since it kicked off around a weekend (why do I get a feeling they were hoping it would be a news dump item?), and right after the Social Forum in Detroit.

At a COuncil of Candaians event last Friday, Naomi Klein offered up some vital info on the G20 and the negative things about it not often reported.

rabbletv on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

In the past weekend, nearly 600 protestors were arrested at the G20 as Toronto was reportedly turned into a fortress to keep the delegates away from the people.

Also here's some food for thought regarding sexism amongst the G20 protestors. I do wonder how many of the people smashing shit are actually "anarchists" or undercover law enforcement posing as anarchists (before anyone thinks I'm being paranoid,

it has happened in the past

).

Regardless of ones views I have a feeling that in the weeks to come we're going to hear a lot of stories about police overreaction, abuse, and the like. Thus, it will be interesting to see how this unfolds and whether anything actually gets accomplished that helps anyone at the forum.

P.S.: Regarding police possibly posing as "anarchist" protestors, looks like there may be some proof already of it going down at the G20. Sometimes things like this make you go hmmmmm.......

New Platform, Recriminalization, Irony and Texas

Yes a lot has gone on in the last couple months but just when I was wondering on what to put in, things took a turn for the ridiculous in Texas. Yes, the new platform for the Texas Republican Party wants to make performing same sex marriages a felony.


Never mind that Texas doesn't allow same sex marriages anyway, if the Texas GOP had their way preforming them would be a felony. It would also mandate jail time for straight people who abet a same sex marriage. All of this for something that can't be performed there now.

Between this and their stance to recriminalize sodomy, it seems the conservatives are more hellbent than ever in taking the culture war into full bully mode. Other stances on the platform is forcing women who want abortions to have sonograms beforehand and a measure to change birthright citizenship to include only those people born in this country to a citizen.

Granted many people will see this platform as throwing meat to their base. Several of the measures here would require changing the Constitution (the 14th amendment has been interpreted to mean if you're born in the U.S. you're a citizen) and Supreme Court precedent (in 2003, the Supreme Court ruled state anti sodomy laws unconstitutional) to force the country to be just like the far right in Texas want it to be. When you consider that, in order to achieve these goals (which also include banning oral sex, anal sex, and strip clubs), Federal law would have to be changed to suit these people's desires, then it should be scary regardless of where you live.

So what are the chances of this happening at the moment? While I can't be certain, I don't think it's likely. If the more extreme measures of this were made law, a court would most likely block it or it would be ruled unconstitutional. It does show just how the fangs of these people are coming out. They don't simply want to abide by the constitution but to make us all play by their interpretation of it.

Am I the only person who finds it ironic that the party that wants less government interference wants a large interventionist government when it comes to a woman's body or what people do in their private lives?

I have a feeling I'll be looking into this more in the print issue.

Checking Back In

I know it's been a while since I posted last. The past month or two has been hectic in way too many ways between a death in the family (and all the dealing with grief that comes with it), the 100th Issue Show, and a short term job that kept me busier than expected near the end. As such I hadn't been posting on here as much as I used to.

I'm trying to change that and get more on the ball in the near future. However, things might occasionally slip through the cracks. For now, its time to get back to this.

Political Art Exhibit in Oly (for Any Readers in WA State or Thereabouts)

Hey! I know this has been going on for a couple weeks now but just wanted to let anyone reading this in the Olympia, WA area know that The Black Dot Museum: Political Artists From Vancouver is happening at Northern; The Olympia All Ages Project until May 28. Co curated by the radical underground rock duo Mecca Normal it features art from Jean Smith, David Lester, Gord HIll, and Brian Roche.

Wish I could be there to see it. Just wanted to let you know.

A few days and Counting

Just wanted to let you know that the show for the 100th issue of TTWN is happening this Thursday. We finally got one of the two flyers for it (produced by Scott Walus of Pat Boone's Farm). Check it out.

100th Issue Show Update - New Date and Lineup

As you know we at TTWN have been planning a special show to commemorate reaching our 100th issue. While the original plan was for Saturday May 1, we have been forced by circumstances we have no control of to change the date. In addition, there has been a change in the bill as Bruiser and Non Serviam have had to drop out for various reasons.

The new date for the show is Thursday May 13, 2010 at Mojo's.

The lineup is (still planning who goes on when): BIG MEDICINE, JERUSALEM AND THE STARBASKETS, PAT BOONE'S FARM, SPECTRAVOX, BOOKMOBILE.

That's all the info we have for now.