MLK III Disgraces his Father

Here's a case of the fruit falling and rolling a long way from the tree.

Last Saturday, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, Martin Luther King III spoke. He echoed his father's words from fifty years ago about people not being judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

In the words of MLK III:

"The task is not done, the journey is not complete," he said. "The vision preached by my father a half-century ago was that his four little children would no longer live in a nation where they would judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character."

To that end, I would say that Dr. King was wildly successful. Certainly, Dr. King's children -- post 1964 -- have, increasingly, lived free from the pernicious discrimination (legal and social) that his father -- and his father's generation -- knew all too well.

But then MLK III, in step with race industry propaganda, which is encouraged by the nation's white liberal power structure, said this:

"However, sadly, the tears of Trayvon Martin's mother and father remind us that, far too frequently, the color of one's skin remains a license to profile, to arrest and to even murder with no regard for the content of one's character," he said, calling for "stand your ground" self-defense laws to be repealed in states where they have been enacted.

MLK III isn't a naïf. He knows better about Trayvon Martin's "character," given the details that have surfaced about Martin. What Martin's intentions were that awful night he was shot and killed as he passed through George Zimmerman's neighborhood are at question. But that he pounced on Zimmerman and beat him isn't. That Zimmerman acted in self-defense is plain. When one is being beaten, one tends not to be overly concerned about the content of the assailant's character. In fact, one viscerally -- and painfully -- may assume that one's assailant is, oh, character-deficient.

Via: American Thinker

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VIOLENT CRIME FORCES CHICAGO TO HIRE HUNDREDS OF SECURITY GUARDS TO ESCORT KIDS TO SCHOOL

CHICAGO (AP) — Busy, unfamiliar streets were made a bit friendlier Monday, the first day of school in Chicago, thanks to hundreds of newly hired safety guards. But some parents expressed doubt the effort would protect their children, who now must cross gang boundaries to get to their new classrooms after their old ones closed.

The Safe Passage program guards in neon vests lined city streets in neighborhoods with closed schools, the most visible sign of what’s at stake for the nation’s third-largest school district, which is struggling academically and financially.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who called Monday “a new beginning” for the district, planned to join students walking to O’Toole Elementary in the West Englewood neighborhood on the city’s South Side.

(Photo: NBC5/WMAQ-TV)

The Chicago Board of Education — hand-picked by Emanuel — voted in May to close about 50 elementary schools and programs, a move Emanuel and schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett said would allow the district to improve academics and help pay down a $1 billion budget deficit.

Critics of the school closings said minority students were disproportionately affected and that many students would now have to cross dangerous gang boundaries. Some families sued, but a federal judge refused to halt the plan.

On Monday, concerned parents took time off of work or recruited family members to make sure students arrived at their new schools.

Annie Stovall walked her granddaughter, 9-year-old Kayla Porter, to Gresham Elementary School in the Gresham neighborhood, about 4 miles south of O’Toole Elementary.

Stovall said she’s skeptical Chicago’s first-day show of force will last.

“I think it’s just show-and-tell right now,” Stovall said. “Five, six weeks down the road, let’s see what’s going to happen.”

Via: The Blaze

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Jack Lew: Obama will negotiate over government funding, not debt limit

Treasury Secretary Jack Lew reiterated Tuesday morning that the Obama administration will not negotiate with congressional Republicans over the debt ceiling, but will seek a fiscal bargain with Republicans in funding the government.

Lew appeared on CNBC’s "Squawk Box" the morning after sending House Speaker John Boehner a letter projecting that the Treasury would run out of headroom under the debt ceiling in mid-October. Lew explained that the letter was not a threat, but that “we’re sharing the information we have” and “it means Congress does need to act” to raise the limit.

Lew reasserted several times during his interview with CNBC’s John Harwood that the White House won’t engage in negotiations with Republicans seeking spending cuts or changes to Obamacare in raising the debt ceiling. But he also indicated that the administration remains willing to talk with the GOP about making other large-scale fiscal adjustments in the upcoming government funding showdown that will take place just shortly before Lew expects the debt ceiling to become binding in mid-October.

President Obama is “looking for the sensible common ground” in trying to make sure the government doesn’t shut down when funding runs out on Oct. 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year, Lew said. Lew made sure to distinguish between negotiations over the debt ceiling and over a new budget or continuing resolution, calling the latter “very different from something as fundamental as saying we’ll put the full faith and credit of the United States at risk.”

In negotiating over funding the government, Lew said, Obama is aiming to replace the sequestration cuts with other fiscal savings and “looking for the sensible common ground,” including entitlement reforms and changes to the corporate tax code. Lew said that Obama has “made clear he’s willing to do tough things on entitlements” but that any such changes would “require balance” in the form of tax hikes.

But even in the continuing resolution talks, Obamacare would remain off the table. In response to Harwood’s question whether the Obama administration would accept any defunding or delaying of Obamacare in a bill funding the government, Lew simply responded “no.”

Lew said he has exchanged calls with Boehner and other Republican leaders regarding the coming fiscal showdowns.

Via: Washington Examiner

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5 Reasons Why a Constitutional Convention Is a Better Idea than Just Electing More Republicans

Mark Levin's new book The Liberty Amendments proposes that state legislatures use their Article V power to call a convention to propose new constitutional amendments for state ratification. The unorthodox process seems impractical at first -- it's never been used, it's off the mainstream political radar, few people even know it exists, etc. -- but a closer look reveals transformative advantages over the prevailing political strategies of the day.

1. Conservatives' Washington-centric focus has born little fruit.

America's news coverage and political mindset revolve around Washington D.C. and, by its nature, Washington D.C. revolves around big government. It is a culture that is embarrassed by constitutionalism, gravitates toward racial, gender, and ethnic politics, and works to convince conservatives to abandon their best ideas and arguments out of political fear.

The Potomac is poor ground for a constitutional battle.

2. Money and the establishment make it unlikely to get solid conservatives in federal office.

Winning U.S. Senate candidates spend an average of $10.4 million per race. The average successful House race costs $1.6 million. Citizens who can marshal such vast resources are rare. Rarer still is a candidate with such wealth who has developed political convictions strong enough withstand Washington's corrupting onslaught.

Non-megabucks candidates generally climb the political ladder slowly, building a fund-raising base as they go. Unfortunately, that method leads legislators to scratch innumerable backs on the way to the House and Senate. Each deal made, each unsavory compromise reached, each postponement of what they originally ran for in order to ensure a safe reelection dulls the conservatives' senses and leads to legislators whose only elite skill is winning another term.

Nowhere is this phenomenon more evident than the current Republican caucus of the US Senate. There are perhaps eight to 13 reliably conservative members in the entire group. Turning those 13 into 60 is a worthy goal, but given the shallow pool from which we have to draw, "elect more Republicans" appears to be a weak strategy.

Via: American Thinker

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Syria crisis: Russia and China step up warning over strike

Russia and China have stepped up their warnings against military intervention in Syria, with Moscow saying any such action would have "catastrophic consequences" for the region.

The US and its allies are considering launching strikes on Syria in response to deadly attacks last week.

The US said there was "undeniable" proof of a chemical attack, on Monday.

UN chemical weapons inspectors are due to start a second day of investigations in the suburbs of Damascus.

The UN team came under sniper fire as they tried to visit an area west of the city on Monday.

A spokesman for UK Prime Minister David Cameron says the UK is making contingency plans for military action in Syria.

Mr Cameron has cut short his holiday and returned to London to deal with the Syrian crisis.

Russian foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich has called on the international community to show "prudence" over the crisis and observe international law.

"Attempts to bypass the Security Council, once again to create artificial groundless excuses for a military intervention in the region are fraught with new suffering in Syria and catastrophic consequences for other countries of the Middle East and North Africa," he said in a statement.

Late on Monday, the US said it was postponing a meeting on Syria with Russian diplomats, citing "ongoing consultations" about alleged use of chemical weapons in Syria.

Via: BBC

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