God Says MLK Was Wrong

New Orleans mayor Ray Nagin (left in photo) spoke today about Martin Luther King, Jr. Before I tell you what he said of the great man, let me quote the most famous paragraph from his "I Have A Dream" speech:

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

In summary, Martin Luther King Jr. dreamed that one day people would stop thinking in terms of black and white, and instead consider each person on his own individual merits.

Mayor Ray Nagin, who is black, spoke today to honor this great man, and to show how little of his dream has been accomplished. Let me quote his great speech, which does not rise to the caliber of MLK's epic prose:

It's time for us to rebuild New Orleans — the one that should be a chocolate New Orleans. This city will be a majority African American city. It's the way God wants it to be.

That's right. The mayor says white people need to move back North, because God wants black people to live in New Orleans. God obviously doesn't believe in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream, because the first thing God thinks when he sees a white man in New Orleans is "Get that honky outta my city!" Hey, don't blame me. I didn't elect him.

Of course, God has told Ray Nagin much more than his opinions on white people living in the South. For example, God told Ray Nagin that he is a Democrat. This is fortunate, because Ray Nagin is also a Democrat. Allow me to quote his memorial speech once more:

Surely God is mad at America. He sent us hurricane after hurricane after hurricane, and it's destroyed and put stress on this country. Surely he doesn't approve of us being in Iraq under false pretenses.

This is the same mayor who said in an October town hall meeting "How do I make sure New Orleans is not overrun with Mexican workers?'" I guess God gave him the answer: only let blacks into the city.

Labels: racism

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Nervous Rodent's Manifesto

Last updated: 29 September 2005

I figure everyone has the right to know where a blogger is coming from, so I'm posting a manifesto of sorts. This isn't all-encompassing, but it should serve to give everyone an idea of where I'm coming from politically.

1. The government that governs best, governs least. -- Thomas Jefferson
2. Every service provided by the government is paid for out of the coffers of American wealth, e.g., taxes. To endorse spending is to postulate that the government can get more productivity from the wealth than private citizens, corporations, or organizations.
   
3. It is not a crime that hurts none. All laws should exist to protect innocents; any law that does not is superfluous.
4. The economy knows best. Only in the most extreme cases should the government interfere with the free working of the economy. Having said that, many problems are caused by government interference, and may require additional action to correct.
   
5. All people have equal rights, and should be treated equally under the law. Giving privledges to one group over another to correct perceived "disadvantages" is insulting and degrading.
   
6. It is better to fight for your country on foreign soil than at home. Like all rational people, I oppose war on principle. But I would rather fight in Iraq and Afghanistan than Maryland and Virginia.
   
7. There is nothing wrong with religion. Except that no government should ever invoke it, for any reason. Government, by definition, has power over people, and the combination is dangerous in the extreme.
8. All citizens have the right to argue and petition for change. Our Constitution has an amendment procedure for a reason. Violent action against a government is only justified against governments that do not, and it is especially justified in that situation.
   
9. Debate and discourse of individuals is preferable to news and editorials dictated by major corporations.
   
10. Opinions change, including mine. This manifesto may change with time. That's because I will, too.
    

The images at the bottom give a bit of a clue. They are courtesy of the OkCupid politics test. Feel free to take the test, and post your results as a comment so I can see what my readership is like. I'm 71% socially liberal, and 83% economically permissive. The first graph tells me I'm a Libertarian, the second tells me I'm similar to Jefferson, and the third tells me that people who scored similar results to me were split between Bush and Kerry in the last election.








Thanks to Dave's Not Here for pointing me to this test.

Labels: afghanistan, church, iraq, nanny state, personal freedoms, privacy, racism, state's rights, taxes

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