Oh happy day...first!!!

Posted by LisaTx65 on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:10 PM

Thanks, Lisa! (-;

I'm responding to everyone who comments on this blog with Dr. King quotations and/or photos. Here's the first that comes to mind:

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:14 PM

"I Have A Dream" was my sixth grade speech. We were told to pick a history making speech, memorize it, and present before out class. I did ... and didn't have a clue the real impact of what I was reciting at all. LOL

Posted by LisaTx65 on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:11 PM

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:29 PM

It's unfortunate that most American history simply ignores what this man did in the latter years of his life. Yes, he worked against discrimination, but then he turned not just to the blacks but to all humanity, speaking out against war and economic injustice. He spoke for a need for equality for all. Not just in name, but in fact, in every way. In other words, a world where the rich have no more power than anyone else, where no one is in economic slavery. Much of the world is in fact in economic slavery, but since no one calls it slavery, we ignore it. This man didn't.

<h3>Loving Awareness - A Journey To Wholeness</h3>

Posted by Carrot Wax on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:20 PM

Very true, my friend! Thanks for your comment, CW.

"All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:30 PM

Are you serious when you say this is your last myspace blog, JC?

Posted by Insatiable Jewel on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:21 PM

Yes, Jewel, but I will still be blogging at

http://crisisblog.crisischronicles.com

...and I'll still be checking in on my favorite MySpace bloggers (like you).

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:31 PM

...and me (smile)!!!

Posted by Neo (FLEXWRITER) on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 2:35 PM

And you, Neo!

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 16, 2008 - Wednesday at 1:23 PM

And me!

(K, where's my quote, bitch?)

Posted by Sir Nico III © on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:54 PM

And you...

"Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 10:20 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k04KzgYRKrE

Posted by Susannah Dean on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:25 PM

I love this song, and I'm SOOOOOOO glad you posted the video.

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:27 PM

psh. you expected something different from me?

TURN THAT BABY UP!

Posted by Susannah Dean on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:33 PM

I shall....

"It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can stop him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:45 PM

do you know the song tennessee by arrested development?

Posted by Susannah Dean on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:49 PM

Oh, yeah.... (-;

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:53 PM

i hope that cd isn't missing along with all the other things that are. i have an urge to listen to that song now.

Posted by Susannah Dean on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 10:58 PM

I can't find the video.

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 11:08 AM

here you go...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g40c6iAEHpc

Posted by Susannah Dean on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 12:25 PM

p.s. i found the cd. it is not in the land of missing books and cd's

Posted by Susannah Dean on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 12:35 PM

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
~Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.






The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today is my own government.
~Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.






We have guided missiles and misguided men.
~Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.






A EXCERPT FOR HIS "BEYOND VIETNAM: A TIME TO BREAK SILENCE" SPEECH

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

"Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken — the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investment.

"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

"A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. n the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. 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." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say: "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

"America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood.

"This kind of positive revolution of values is our best defense against communism. War is not the answer. Communism will never be defeated by the use of atomic bombs or nuclear weapons. Let us not join those who shout war and through their misguided passions urge the United States to relinquish its participation in the United Nations. These are days which demand wise restraint and calm reasonableness. We must not call everyone a Communist or an appeaser who advocates the seating of Red China in the United Nations and who recognizes that hate and hysteria are not the final answers to the problem of these turbulent days. We must not engage in a negative anti-communism, but rather in a positive thrust for democracy, realizing that our greatest defense against communism is to take offensive action in behalf of justice. We must with positive action seek to remove those conditions of poverty, insecurity and injustice which are the fertile soil in which the seed of communism grows and develops.

"These are revolutionary times. All over the globe men are revolting against old systems of exploitation and oppression and out of the wombs of a frail world new systems of justice and equality are being born. The shirtless and barefoot people of the land are rising up as never before. "The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light." We in the West must support these revolutions. It is a sad fact that, because of comfort, complacency, a morbid fear of communism, and our proneness to adjust to injustice, the Western nations that initiated so much of the revolutionary spirit of the modern world have now become the arch anti-revolutionaries. This has driven many to feel that only Marxism has the revolutionary spirit. Therefore, communism is a judgment against our failure to make democracy real and follow through on the revolutions we initiated. Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go out into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism. With this powerful commitment we shall boldly challenge the status quo and unjust mores and thereby speed the day when "every valley shall be exalted, and every moutain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight and the rough places plain."

"A genuine revolution of values means in the final analysis that our loyalties must become ecumenical rather than sectional. Every nation must now develop an overriding loyalty to mankind as a whole in order to preserve the best in their individual societies."

Posted by The Multiple Personalities of Lorne Brandon Moore on January 14, 2008 - Monday at 11:56 PM

VERY VERY VERY much appreciated, my friend! Excellent! Thank you.

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 10:58 AM

I have a dream too, sometimes that dream seems impossible, thank god, good, whatever for such inspirational and amazing people such as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
The dream may seem impossible but I hope many of us keep striving towards it....
I will learn to negotiate the other site especially if and when you do disappear from here I would like to keep in touch....smiles

Posted by Elaine being my own hero/wizard/teacher/guru on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 3:58 AM

Thank you, Elaine!

One of my favorite authors, John Updike, wrote that
"Dreams come true; without that possibility, nature would not incite us to have them."

May they come true sooner, rather than later!!

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 11:02 AM

I am stealing that "default pic"!!

Posted by Ninure da Hippie on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 5:06 AM

Feel free, my friend! I stole it from Photobucket! (-:

"When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 10:24 AM

do good, the government kills you.
glad i'm bad.

Posted by Smith on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 5:37 AM

"Your CIA, you see I ain't kiddin'
Both King and X they got ridda' both"
- Public Enemy, from "Louder Than a Bomb"

Though I had heard rumors (including in that Public Enemy song) that the government was involved in King's killing, I didn't know until doing some research last night that a jury in a civil case actually found that "government agencies" played a role in his assassination. Congress then did an investigation, but found (as we might expect) "insufficient evidence."

"I submit to you that if a man hasn't discovered something he will die for, he isn't fit to live."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (from a 1963 speech in Detroit)

As I said, I did a lot of research, planning to write a stirring tribute.
But my words seemed inadequate - so I decided to let the man speak for himself.

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 10:34 AM

Where are these kinds of leaders today??? That is what I would like to know? People to inspire us like Martin Luther King and John Kennedy to be more than you are to contribute?? It seems like there is a big vacuum to be filled in our society today... of real leaders who inspire with strong ideals and vision... that's it... someone with vision... for a nobler future.... We need someone like that again.

Thanks of course for posting this... it's gotten me thinking again.

Posted by Rune Warrior on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 5:49 AM

Good questions, and I agree....

The first that comes to mind right now is Nelson Mandela.

Here's one of my favorite King quotations:

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time; the need for mankind to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Mankind must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression, and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."
- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., December 11, 1964

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 10:48 AM

Very good quote.. I've not heard that quoted in some time. But at that time there were a whole number of "social giants" around... and a number of them were American. Now it seems there are so few... and the ones around like Mandela, the Dalia Lama, etc... aren't American. So it's disappointing.
Thanks for doing this blog an his actual birthday though.

Posted by Rune Warrior on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 12:04 PM

Nice Tribute!

Posted by doc on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 6:47 AM

Thanks, doc!

"The hope of a secure and livable world lies with disciplined nonconformists who are dedicated to justice, peace and brotherhood."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from Strength to Love

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 10:41 AM

Sharing his words is a great way to celebrate the birthday of Dr. King. Social Justice is my favorite mission. I'm going to ask my husband if he wants to use your blog as a reference for his class on Friday, which he has dedicated to MLK.

Posted by Tara on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 7:54 AM

Very cool! Kudos to you and to the Oak!

"The good neighbor looks beyond the external accidents and discerns those inner qualities that make all men human and, therefore, brothers."
- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from Strength to Love

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 10:54 AM

Lets not forget that there is still a battle being fought. MLK fought hard and gains are sure yet look around and see...truths are not as evident as they should be.... And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XjHS6yUdio

Posted by Hardcorebrat on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 10:15 AM

You are absolutely right! We've come a long way, but we've still got a long ass way to go.

And that video is PERFECT - so true, and so very, very sad....

Thank you, my friend!

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 11:17 AM

this blog is about 2 celebrations, and for you, personally, i think this song is perfect on many many levels...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXBba77U1_Y

Posted by halcyon dayz on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 10:38 AM

I love Joni Mitchell, and I love that song - never heard this version before though....

Thank you!

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 11:18 AM

ditto, ditto, ditto, you're welcome and ditto...

Posted by Susannah Dean on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 11:58 AM

Happy day MLK, happy day indeed~ there are more "African Americans" held in the bondage of poverty, drugs now then discriminated "Blacks" of his day. Who's to blame?

Posted by Lisa on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 3:43 PM

A very good question, Lisa!

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 16, 2008 - Wednesday at 1:20 PM

What's up man? Just went to your website and checked out what you had to say and some of the comments. You've got to understand that I'm a little reserved about being very anxious pursuing a friendship with you with your particular allegations, but I'm hearing you out objectively and I like the things you say.

It's kinda weird that I found you again tonight, because I just wrote a blog about scientology tonight, and you're into studying different religions.

I'm just saying, I'm paying attention, and I like your train of thought. Still not casting judgement on you, just paying attention. What you plan to do with the attention from people will play itself out over time.

I hope you don't consider this to be a bad comment.

Posted by Senor W.H.O.— Pimp Daddy on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 9:39 PM

I appreciate your honesty, bro. As I'm sure you know, there are plenty of men who've gone to jail without ever having done anything wrong. Martin Luther King, Jr. is a perfect example of that. I'm not Martin, but I'm not a rapist either. If I was, I'd have to be a complete idiot to advertise my real identity on here.

Not a bad comment at all, Pimp Daddy... you are being truthful, thoughtful, and smart. And I appreciate you giving me a chance.

Peace...

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 15, 2008 - Tuesday at 10:08 PM

My hero since I was a kid! I LOVE him. I did a "Who is your hero"?" report on him in junior high and won some national award for it. What an amazing man. I am still in awe.

Posted by Black Widow on January 16, 2008 - Wednesday at 5:03 AM

You took the words right out of my mouth! My old profile had a picture and quotations by Martin in the "Heroes" section. Unfortunately, my current profile, since it is a music profile, has no hero section - but I still have him listed in my "Influences." I don't use the word "Hero" very often - but he is one person who definitely deserves that title.

Thanks, BW!

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 16, 2008 - Wednesday at 11:09 AM

REGRETTABLY I HAVE TO AGREE WITH HILLARY AND HER COMMENT, MLK'S "DREAM" AND HIS BORDER-LINE TERRORIST ACTIONS WOULD HAVE BEEN FOR NOT, IF IT WERE NOT FOR LBJ SIGNING THE CIVIL RIGHTS ACT.

IT TOOK THE PENSTROKE OF THE PRESIDENT IN ORDER FOR ANY CHANGES TO HAPPEN, IF HE HAD NOT SIGNED THAT ACT, THEN ALL THE PROTESTS, ALL THE SPEECHES, ALL THE GLITZ AND GLAM WOULD HAVE ALL BEEN A MUTE POINT.

IF THIS HAD HAPPENED IN TODAYS WORLD, MLK AND HIS ORGANIZATION WOULDHAVE BEEN DECLARED A TERRRORIST ORGANIZATION AND WOULD HAVE BEEN HUNTED DOWN AND ERADICATED OFF THE FACE OF THIS EARTH.

Posted by ALLEY CAT WAYS on January 16, 2008 - Wednesday at 9:45 AM

Kudos to LBJ for signing that act. He has a bad reputation because of his Vietnam policy, and deservedly so, but he doesn't get enough credit for his excellent domestic policies, like the Civil Rights Act. I think that just as that Act helped further King's dream, it can be said that without King laying the groundwork and being the catalyst, the Act would not have become a reality. King was at least as responsible, in this regard, as LBJ - and in fact, we are ignoring altogether the Congress that passed the Act. Without them, LBJ would have had nothing to sign. And without King's activism to spur them on, change a lot of public opinion, and shine a spotlight on immense injustices, most members of Congress might not have been aware enough, or cared enough to enact any such legislation. That said, LBJ did try to lean heavily on Congress to pass it. And let's give John F. Kennedy credit for introducing the bill in the first place, before he was assassinated.

You may be right that the current Administration might have labeled King's organization terrorist - it seems incredible, but it's not outside the realm of possibility - I have heard prominent Republicans insinuate that a victory for Democrats or liberals is essentially a victory for terrorism. And the FBI in King's lifetime tried to label him as a Communist. Ridiculous.... Yet I also think it's ridiculous to accuse King of "borderline terrorist actions." He advocated PEACEFUL, NON-VIOLENT protests for justice - like Gandhi.

Thanks for your comment, my friend.

Posted by Jesus Crisis on January 16, 2008 - Wednesday at 11:08 AM