Archive for August, 2007

“I Have a Dream”

Posted in Society on August 28th, 2007

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Delivering his famous ā€˜I Have a Dream Speechā€™ on August 28, 1963

Forty-four years ago on August 28, 1963 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on steps of the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his historic speech, “I Have a Dream.” Dr. King spoke of his desire for a future where Black peopleĀ and White peopleĀ would coexist as equals before to over 200,000 civil rights supporters during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The speech is widely considered to be one of the greatest speeches in history and was ranked the top American speech of the 20th century by a 1999 poll of scholars of public address.

Hailed as a one of the great masterpieces of rhetoric, Dr. King’s speech resembled the passionate style of a Black Baptist sermon. It appealed to such iconic and respected sources as the Bible and invokes the United States Declaration of Independence, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the United States Constitution.

“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 slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.”

“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.”

Legend holds that King departed from his prepared text and began preaching extemporaneously, but he had delivered a similar speech incorporating some of the same sections in Detroit in June 1963, when he marched on Woodward Avenue with Walter Reuther and the Rev. C.L. Franklin, and had rehearsed other parts.

In the wake of the speech and march, King was named Man of the Year by TIME magazine for 1963, and in 1964, was the youngest person awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2003, the National Parks Service dedicated an inscribed marble pedestal to commemorate the location of King’s speech at the Lincoln Memorial

Sick Vick Pleads Out!

Posted in Society on August 20th, 2007

Michael “Sick” Vick has accepted a plea deal to avoid additional federal charges related to a professional dogfighting operation, according to one of Vick’s attorneys. According to Lawrence Woodward, one of Vick’s defense attorneys, Michael Vick is going to enter a guilty plea to the felony conspiracy charge next Monday at 10:30AM.

Vick’s decision must have been fairly easy after his last two co-defendants pleaded guilty Friday and agreed in deals with prosecutors to testify against Vick if they were called to do so at trial. A third co-defendant pleaded guilty in July under similar conditions. Every ghetto thug knows to plead out after their friends roll on them; it ghetto standard operating procedure.

After sponsoring a multi-state dogfighting enterprise this ghetto thug will probably do somewhat less than a single year of prison time and have to pay a fine of some sort. Sorry, Sen. Byrd, they won’t execute him.

The NFL is still noncommittal on their own actions against Vick. While the NFL was still working on its own review of the case and is closely monitoring talks between Vick’s lawyers and prosecutors it is unlikely that they’ll place ethics before profit.

I hold out the slim hope that Michael “Sick Ass Ghetto Thug” Vick will contract AIDS during one of his hopefully frequent prison rapes.

The 8th Deadly Sin

Posted in Ethics & Morality, Philosophy, Society on August 17th, 2007

Most of us in Western cultures are familiar with the Seven Deadly Sins: Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. These Cardinal Vices were enumerated by the early Christian church as a way to educate and instruct followers concerning man’s tendency to sin. I believe we must add an eighth Deadly Sin to that list – Guiltism.

Guiltism:

Guiltism is a mindset or belief system that espouses that an individual or group is inherently “evil” because they are possessed of some innate benefit that they did not earn and must be ashamed of. At guiltism’s core is the mandate that since someone or some group has privilege, they must pay reparations to all others who do not possess that privilege. Failure to pay without complaint absolves all others who harm the privileged person or group from some or all responsibility for their actions.

This is an insidious and pernicious belief structure. Guiltism it is on both the idea of collective guilt, which is guilt attributed to someone who has some sort of relationship – familial or societal – with someone else who perpetrated some transgression, and upon the idea any privilege automatically incurs an individual or group the burden of guilt and the need to offer both apology and recompense to diverse strangers.

Guiltism is an extremely damaging “sin”, possibly worse than the original seven combined. It corrupts the Seven Contrary Virtues: chastity, abstinence, liberality, diligence, patience, kindness, and humility.

  • Guiltism corrupts Chastity by causing a beautiful person to hate their own bodies – an unearned privilege, which detracts from successful integration of sexuality within the person and thus the inner unity of a human person in his or her bodily and spiritual being.
  • Guiltism denies Abstinence because the virtue of abstinence is intended to be a conscious act, freely chosen to enhance life, and guiltism twists this into repressive self-denial.
  • Guiltism counters Liberality by denying any act of charity. Guiltism would claim that any charitable act was actually nothing more than rendering partial payment due.
  • Guiltism perverts Diligence. Diligence requires that a human being freely to direct himself to conform to the good promised by God and attested by moral conscience. Guiltism both adds a goad, which precludes the person’s freedom of action and supplants the purpose of a vocation to divine beatitude with the assuagement of guilt and reduction of personal tribulation.
  • Guiltism defies Patience by forcing a person to defy the existence of a divine plan and divine wisdom in favor of acting at their own pace to correct perceived injustices.
  • Guiltism refuses Kindness by making all good acts towards others who carry this burden of adopted guilt an exacerbation of their condition, and any good act to the less privileged being recompense as opposed to kindness.
  • Guiltism contravenes Humility by causing a person to aggrandize themselves and their self perception of their power and influence. To carry guilt implies the belief that one had the power to enact either harm or good.

Guiltism is by far the most deadly and corruptive of “sins.” It’s corrosive effects upon the human soul are unequaled in Man.

Sick Vick’s Punishment?

Posted in Society on August 9th, 2007

It’s doubtful that this would ever happen, even if and when Michael Vick is convicted of the heinous crimes of funding and running a dogfighting operation, but it would be fun to watch.


As seen on Break.com

The Author’s only real concern would be the possible negative impact on the dogs who were carrying out the sentence. Given Michael Vick’s genital herpes infection and his possible drug use, it would probably be unjust cruelty to the dogs to force them to put him in their mouths. Maybe we could use rats instead; America’s vermin getting rid of America’s vermin?

Payback Time ā€“ The Sick Vick Chew Toy

Posted in Society on August 8th, 2007

Michael ā€œSickā€ Vick Chew Toy for dogsMichael Vick, indicted for various charges relating to developing, funding and running a vicious dog fighting camp, has lost all of his endorsements and the NFL has discontinued selling renditions of his Atlanta Falcons jersey. You can, however, still purchase the ultimate in Michael ā€œSick Ass Ghetto Thugā€ Vick memorabilia. Go to vickdogchewtoy.com and get your best friend The Official ā€œVickā€™sā€ Dog Chew Toy!

Pit Bull tested and approved. Get one today for your furry friend.

It may not be as viscerally satisfying as having Michael Vick in your dogā€™s jaws, but itā€™s legal. Also, Michael ā€œSick Ass Ghetto Thugā€ Vick has herpes and you wouldnā€™t want your dog exposed to that ā€“ not to mention turning your kitchen or yard into a biohazard area.