CALIFORNIA YANKEE

Remembering Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with his 'I Have A Dream Speech'

Image Credit: Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial National Memorial

I hope you took  some time today to think about the life and times of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. America is a better place because of his efforts.

Watch listen or read King's great "I Have A Dream Speech." It needs no further introduction:

MLK day is always amazing to me because as conservatives we are simultaneously racist if we don't celebrate the day and politically opportunistic racists if we celebrate the day and honor Martin Luther King Jr.

Martin Luther King Jr. fought for civil rights and for people to be evaluated on their true worth, their character. He wasn't a dyed-in-the-wool member of either political party, he was instead a combination of various ideas that both political parties can and do disagree with for one reason or another. But regardless of his political leanings, the work he did had great meaning and could teach those that would follow.

 

For a conservative to acknowledge King's place in history with respect while still disagreeing with some of the political philosophies, is the height of opportunistic racism in politics according to one Denver Post contributor.

 

On twitter she went into a rant about GOP candidates marching in the MLK Parade while actively working against MLK's legacy by attacking Obamacare and seeking Voter ID requirements. 

It's a start. Why bash the GOP over this? RT @LauraChapin MLK died while marching w workers for higher wages MT #copolitics

— Lynn Bartels (@lynn_bartels) January 20, 2014

It's a start. Why bash the GOP over this? RT @LauraChapin MLK died while marching w workers for higher wages MT #copolitics

— Lynn Bartels (@lynn_bartels) January 20, 2014

GOP, which once fought MLK holiday, now participates in it. http://t.co/Q7P0bLc9Sb #copolitics #achanging

— Lynn Bartels (@lynn_bartels) January 20, 2014

The irony here to me is that this Denver Post contributor seeks to take possession of MLK and his legacy as if it were the property of the Democratic party only.

 

And again, this is coming from the party that brought about Jim Crow, had the KKK take over its national convention, had a president that re-segregated the military, and never misses a chance to play the over used, and intellectually insulting, race card at the drop of a hat.

 

Maybe I just don't get Martin Luther King Jr., but I suspect this type of possession would offend him to a great degree.

Transcript of King's I Have A Dream Speech:

"Martin Luther King Jr I Have A Dream Speech Transcript “I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our nation’s capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.” But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God’s children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro’s legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, “When will you be satisfied?” We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating “For Whites Only”. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.

I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”

How to safely browse the web in this era of surveillance

From time to time we republish works by the good folks at ProPublica. This article, "Privacy tools: how to safely browse the web," is part of ProPublica's ongoing investigation into surveillance and threats to our privacy in this era of cell phones, data mining, email and cyberwar. It is timely as President Obama tries to explain how he thinks "President Obama's dragnet," as the New York Times referred to it, ought to be reformed.

Privacy tools: how to safely browse the web.

By Julia Angwin, ProPublica.

In the course of writing her book, Dragnet Nation, ProPublica reporter Julia Angwin tried various strategies to protect her privacy. In this blog post, she distills the lessons from her privacy experiments into useful tips for readers.

One of the easiest and simplest things you can do to protect your privacy is to be a smarter Web browser.

This is surprisingly difficult because most popular Web browsing software is set up to allow users to be tracked by default. The reason is simple economics – you don't pay for Web browsing software, so the companies that make it have to find other ways to make money.

The most egregious example of this conflict came in 2008 when Microsoft's advertising executives helped quash a plan by the engineers to build better privacy protections into the Internet Explorer 8 Web browser. Microsoft has since added additional protections – but they are not turned on by default. The situation is no better at Google, whose Chrome Web browser has "buried and discouraged" the "Do Not Track" button, and is pioneering the use of new tracking technology that cannot be blocked. And it's worth noting that the other big Web browser maker, Mozilla Corp., receives 85 percent of its revenues (PDF) from its agreement to make Google the default search engine on Firefox.

Even worse, many of the tools that Web browsers offer to protect privacy are not effective. Tracking companies have refused to honor the "Do Not Track" button. And Google Chrome's "Incognito" mode and Internet Explorer's "InPrivate Browsing" mode won't protect you from being tracked. Those settings simply prevent other people who use your Web browser after you to see where you've been online.

And so, in order to prevent the most common types of tracking, I ended up loading up my Web browser – Mozilla's Firefox – with a bunch of extra software. It sounds like a lot of work, but most of this software can be installed in a few minutes. Here's what I used:

• I installed "HTTPS Everywhere," created by the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Tor Project. This tool forces your Web browser to use encrypted Internet connections to any website that will allow it. This prevents hackers – and the National Security Agency – from eavesdropping on your Internet connections.
• I also installed Disconnect, a program created by former Google engineer Brian Kennish, which blocks advertisers and social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, from tracking which websites you visit.
• And finally I set my default search engine to be DuckDuckGo, a search engine that doesn't store any of the information that is automatically transmitted by your computer — the IP address and other digital footprints — so DuckDuckGo has no way to link your search queries to you. That means DuckDuckGo won't auto-complete your search queries based on your previous searches or based on your physical location, as Google does. So you'll have to be a little smarter about your searches, and remember to bookmark the pages that you visit often, to save time.

After browsing with my ungainly setup for nearly a year, I found a Web browser that had all the features I wanted built in — called WhiteHat Aviator. It has built-in HTTPS Everywhere, it doesn't retain or sell your online activity, and it uses Disconnect to block trackers from advertisers and social media companies. Its default search engine is DuckDuckGo.

It's built by a computer security firm called WhiteHat Security, but it hasn't been audited by any computer security experts yet, as far as I can tell. So use it at your own risk (and currently you can only use it on the Mac OSX operating system). But I've been using it for a few months, and after some bugginess in the beginning, I've started to enjoy the unusual feeling of having privacy as a default setting.

Obama proposes education mandates his own education can't meet

In yet another cycle of what's good for the government goose is not good for you, President Obama's Department of Education proposes rules for private-sector colleges that his own education at Harvard Law would fail to meet.

The new leaner and meaner rules require that students graduate with less than 12% debt-to-income ratio or debt-to-discretionary-income ratio lower than 30%.

When President Obama graduated from Harvard Law, he financed that, in part, with more than $42,000 in loans. The price in 1990 was just $13,400. Now, the tuition cost is more than 320% higher – or $44,000 per year. Adjusting, that means that today, President Obama could graduate with upwards of $134,000 in debt.

To meet that level under the "gainful employment" rules, students would need to have a starting salary of nearly $200,000. Yet, today's grads only make a median starting salary of $130,000:

"The University of Chicago Law School and Harvard follow closely, with recent grads earning $132,000 and $130,000, respectively. About 10 years into their careers, those grads earn upwards of $200,000."

Harvard Law fails to meet the new rules. Yet the rules wouldn't impact Harvard – instead the rules would impact all the private for-profit colleges that help millions of minority and low-income Americans earn a college degree and work toward a better life. At four-year non-profit and public institutions, like Harvard, just 21 percent of graduates are black – compared with 28 percent of graduates at for-profit colleges and universities.

In total, a million students' programs will be impacted by the new regulaion, causing a third to half of students to  leave the college system:

"Of those affected, some 300,000 to 500,000 individuals would likely leave the system of post-secondary education entirely. Many of these students are from lower income and minority groups."

Without access to education, minority and low-income students will lack opportunities to achieve the skills that will help them succeed in the workforce. This week, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Thomas Donohue, warned of the impact that these regulations would have on the economy in general, noting that private higher education institutions "play a major role in helping our nation close a serious skills gap."

But, while the Education Department is cutting off minority and low-income access to these critical skills, President Obama is playing lip service to creating more opportunities:

"The idea that so many children are born into poverty in the wealthiest nation on Earth is heartbreaking enough," Obama said. "But the idea that a child may never be able to escape that poverty because she lacks a decent education or health care or a community that views her future as their own — that should offend all of us."

Is it really any wonder then that 53% of Americans do not view President Obama as "honest or trustworthy?" Is this the turning point where America will start to rebel against the Liberals' "We know best" policies? Perhaps, but it may be too late for millions of aspirational students.

Help fight poverty with school choice for every child

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), in a speech at the Brookings Institution today, said that greater school choice is "the surest way" to end the cycle of poverty:

"School choice is the surest way to break this vicious cycle of poverty and we must act fast before it is too late for too many. The fact is, the federal government's approach to fixing our schools has been too slow, too sporadic and too ineffective."

[. . .]

"It is my personal goal that in 10 years, every child in America will have education opportunity through school choice no matter where they live."

In addition to touting the House-passed education bill as well an expansion of charter schools and voucher programs. Leader Cantor also took New York City's extremely liberal new mayor, Bill de Blasio, to task for his threats to restrict charter schools:

"This move could devastate the growth of education opportunity in such a competitive real estate market like New York City. Just think, how many families will have their choices taken away if Mayor de Blasio pursues these policies? Mayor de Blasio should abandon this plan and allow New York's charter schools to continue to flourish."

Cantor even suggested that the House would hold hearings, if de Blasio moved against charter schools in New York City:

"Our committees in the House will remain vigilant in their efforts to ensure no one from the government stands in the schoolhouse door between any child and a good education." 

Leader Cantor also called upon the Senate to take up the Student Success Act, a House-passed overhaul of the No Child Left Behind law that removes many federal mandates and returns more power over education policy to the states. That legislation, includes an amendment proposed by Cantor that would permit states to use federal funding earmarked for low-income families to fund charter schools.

In his speech, Cantor also supported the Louisiana Scholarship Program, a school voucher initiative championed by Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal that was the subject of a lawsuit by the Obama/Holder Justice Department over claims that it impeded desegregation efforts.

You can watch Cantor's speech begining at the 11:45 mark of the following video:

Cantor's speech coincided with the release of the Brown Center on Education Policy at Brookings release of the results of its third annual Education Choice and Competition Index (ECCI). The EECI is an analysis of school choice and competition in the nation's hundred or so largest school districts. The Brookings institute hopes the EECI will help create public awareness of the differences among districts in support of school choice and recognize leaders among school districts in the design and implementation of choice and competition systems.

Obama delays the budget process yet again

Image credit: Office of Management and Budget

A new report from Congressional Quarterly suggests that ObamaCare isn't the only item being delayed in the White House these days. Apparently the official White House budget proposal, which is required by law to be submitted to Congress no later than the first Monday of February, is on track to be "at least a month behind" schedule: 

From the CQ Morning Briefing: 

WHITE HOUSE BUDGET DELAYED: The White House is said to be at least a month behind its own schedule for developing a fiscal 2015 budget, which by statute is supposed to be submitted to Congress on the first Monday in February. That will slow work on next year’s spending bills, even though the budget accord negotiated by House Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., established overall discretionary spending levels.

This is hardly shocking from a White House where delays, extensions, and "that rule doesn't apply to me" thinking has become the norm. We don't have to go into a long dissertation about the ever mounting White House-approved delays in ObamaCare. Nor Obama's incessant foot dragging delays of the Keystone Pipeline.

The budget situation, though, is particularly egregious. With this year's pending failure, five of Obama's last six budgets have been submitted late, including last year's FY2014 proposal which was sent to Congress 65 days late. That's more than any president since the Budget and Accounting Act was passed in 1921. 

As President Obama put it in a November radio address, budgets "expose what our priorities are as a country for all to see." Ironic emphasis on the "all to see." Apparently these Obama priorities are just not important enough for Obama "the Incompetent's" White House to manage to write down on schedule. 

There is no penalty for submitting a budget late (other than being perceived as incompetent), but the Obama White House's complete disregard for the law here has real implications in the budget process. While the House and the Senate have agreed on top line budget numbers for FY2015 with the recent deal, the Republicans in the House still need to pass a series of appropriations bills for each part of the government, in order to specify what will be funded. Every day that the White House delays its budget proposal is another day that the House is forced to waste as FY2015 inches closer. Worse, the delays jeopardize any possibility Congress for to get it done.

Republicans could (and probably will) start forging their own bills, but Harry Reid would swat all those down. These delays in the past have been culpable for Congress' failure to pass the necessary appropriations bills. It looks like the White House is looking to do it yet again.

Who wants to bet that, if and when this latest delay knocks the wind out of House Republicans, Obama will then go out on the campaign trail and rail against the "do-nothing" Congress?

At the end of the day, it's just another Obama failure to lead. It leaves one wondering whether Obama's White House is ignorantly unaware of the results of their failure, or if they just don't care. 

Fifty five percent now favor legalizing marijuana

A new CNN/ORC International poll finds a majority of Americans now support legalizing marijuana, 55% to 44%. The poll also found that only 35% now think that smoking marijuana is morally wrong.

According to CNN Polling Unit, the new poll found interesting divides on the issue:

• Two-thirds of those 18 to 34, and 64% of those 34 to 49, said marijuana should be legal.
• Half of those 50 to 64 said marijuana should be legal, but only 39% of those 65 and older.
• Sixty-two percent of Democrats and 59% of Independents, but just 36% of Republicans, favor legalizing marijuana.
• Fifty-nine percent of men but just 51% of women supported making pot legal.

The CNN poll results confirm findings reported by Gallup in October.

In that poll, Gallup found 58% of Americans support legalizing marijuana. The increase in support for legalizing comes from Independents. Sixty-two percent of Independents now favor legalization. That is a 12% increase during the last year. 

In the accompanying video, Gallup Editor-in-Chief Frank Newport discusses Americans' changing views on marijuana legalization since 1969:

When Gallup first asked about legalization in 1969, only 12% favored legalizing marijuana. Support for legalization doubled in the 1970s, plateaued during the 1980s and 1990s, and slowly moved higher since 2000 -- reaching 50% in 2011.

Colorado and Washington recently became the first states to legalize recreational use of marijuana. The new polling suggests they won't be the last.

Family health issues end the Liz Cheney Senate campaign

Liz Cheney has ended her campaign for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Sen. Mike Enzi. 

In a statement released this morning, Cheney explained she was ending the campaign because of serious family health issues:

Serious health issues have recently arisen in our family, and under the circumstances, I have decided to discontinue my campaign. My children and their futures were the motivation for our campaign and their health and well being will always be my overriding priority.

Phil and I want to thank the thousands of people in Wyoming and all across the country who have supported my campaign.  As a mother and a patriot, I know that the work of defending freedom and protecting liberty must continue for each generation.  Though this campaign stops today,  my commitment to keep fighting with you and your families for the fundamental values that have made this nation and Wyoming great will never stop.

According to the Casper Star-Tribune, one of Cheney’s five children has type 1 diabetes. Cheney wrote in an email that she would not say anything more about the nature of the health issue on Monday.

Cheney announced her campaign less than six months ago in a YouTube video, which you can watch here. Her withdrawal all but guarantees Enzi a fourth term. Wyoming has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1970.

As you can see in this video, Cheney's campaign got of to a rough start and wasn't appreciated by the Republican elite.

The very public family squabble between Liz and her lesbian sister Mary, about same sex versus traditional marriage cost Liz more points with the Republican elite struggling to re-brand the party.

I hope Cheney does continue to fight for the fundamental values that have made this nation great. She would have been a great addition to the U.S. Senate.