Restoring "Honor"??

Tomorrow, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, on the 47th anniversary of the day that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood at that same location and delivered his incredible "I Have a Dream" speech, a rally of another sort will take place.


This rally seems to be being organized under the banner of a group called SOWF (Special Operations Warrior Foundation). SOWF's website (http://www.specialops.org/?page=SOWFFacts) calls the event "a non-political fundraiser" for their non-profit organization which helps families of dead and wounded special operations personnel including Navy SEALs, Army Green Berets and Rangers, Air force combat controllers and Marine Corps special operators.

The planned speakers for this event include Glenn Beck (Fox News), Sarah Palin (former Governor of Alaska and former Vice Presidential candidate), Dr. Alveda King (Minister and self-professed "Pro-Life Warrior"), and Marcus Luttrell (former Navy SEAL), as well as various representatives from SOWF. Jo Dee Messina (Country Singer) will be performing as well.

(http://www.glennbeck.com/828/) The "Restoring Honor Rally" website claims that the rally is only about honoring troops, uniting the American people "under the principles of integrity and truth", and making a "pledge to restore honor within ourselves and our country." The site also asks attendees to please not bring any signs of any kind because the signs "may deter from the peaceful message we are bringing to Washington." Also, the site completely denies that there is any 9/12 or Tea Party affiliation and claims that "there will be absolutely no politics involved". I suppose that remains to be seen.

I hope that is true, I really do...I guess we'll know tomorrow. Perhaps we can take them at their word on this...but with Beck and Palin involved, personally I tend to doubt it. Perhaps I'll be proven wrong.

Many people have been (IMHO, rightfully) angry that this right-wing event has been scheduled for not only the same date as the historic 1963 March on Washington, but in the same location. That August march in 1963 recognized the 100 years since the abolition of slavery in the United States and the beginning of Reformation, from which sprung the very 14th Amendment that the right now wishes to abolish. The very thought of the likes of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck speaking at the same location from which one of the finest pieces of oratory in the history of our nation was delivered, is one that I personally find sickening.


Also, let us not forget that Beck is the same man who has publicly stated that President Obama has a "deep seated hatred of white people" (remarkable since he's half-white and ADORED his mother and white grandparents) and is "a racist" (again, unusual for someone bi-racial). But then, let's not pretend that much that Beck says is even CLOSE to "rational". Beck has also occasionally compared himself to Ghandi and Jesus. Therefore, it should be no great surprise that he's now drawing parallels between himself and King.

In discussing the selection of the August 28th date, Beck has said the following:

"we picked August 28th, it was open in my schedule"


"When I announced it the New York Times blogged immediately that this
was MLK day, and I immediately said, "oh my gosh"."


"I'm not going to be standing on the stair that Martin Luther King stood on.  I'll be two flights down from that stair, as is appropriate."

"I'm going to be several stairs down from where he stood."

So apparently Mr. Beck is under the impression that as long as he didn't realize that he was selecting an anniversary date, and as long as he's not on the same STEP, there's no correlation, so that makes it OK. Or perhaps he thinks that since they're getting the Minister niece of Dr. King to speak at the event, it makes up for any possible disrespect.

In the recent build up to this planned 8/28 fiasco, Glenn Beck has also said all of the following in various broadcasts:

"It is going to be a historic moment"


"It's going to be one for the history books"


"It's going to provide a shock wave to this nation."


"Something miraculous is going to happen"


"it's a defibrillator to the heart of America"


"8-28 will be a miracle"


"You're about to see things that you've never seen before"

Well...I have news Mr. Beck...I'm ALREADY seeing things I've never seen before...

I'm seeing my fellow Americans call my President a liar over his proclamation of his own religious faith, over where he was born (even though there's MORE than ample proof, including the word of the Republican governor of Hawaii), even over things as stupid as whether or not he pays attention to that "Snookie" creature from the ridiculous "Jersey Shore" show.

I'm seeing my fellow Americans betray our own Constitution due to their growing bigotry, fear and hatred of the faith of Islam. Whether the American people LIKE it or not, we cannot legally restrict a religious group from building a place of worship anywhere that they want to. This "mosque" (which is not actually a Mosque) is NOT "at ground zero"; it's not even within sight of Ground Zero. It is over two blocks away. To try to demand that Muslims be denied the right to build their community center in that location is absolutely religious discrimination, therefore, unconstitutional. The “terrorists” WANT us to be so terrorized that we abandon our Constitutional values, why do these people want to acquiesce to that?

I'm seeing my fellow Americans so filled with hatred and rage toward practitioners of a particular faith that one man actually knifed a cab driver for simply responding affirmatively to the question, "are you a Muslim?" and another man drunkenly interrupted an Islamic prayer service by shouting insults, calling the practitioners "terrorists" and urinating in their place of worship. What kind of animals behave in such a manner?

I'm seeing my fellow Americans all over the country doing whatever they can to attempt to block Muslims from having Mosques, all the while professing what "good Christians" they are. I wonder how they would feel if people were attempting to block Christian churches from being built for purely religious reasons.

I'm seeing my fellow Americans happily discriminating against people of alternative lifestyles, alternative faiths, and alternative sexuality...anyone perceived as "other"...in a way that I can't really stomach.

Oh yes, Mr. Beck...I'm seeing a LOT of things that I've never seen before, and they cause me deep sorrow for the country that I dearly love and the things it's supposed to stand for. The values that people like you claim to espouse, but you don't. In reality you just follow some warped ideology of a past I was glad to see fading away. But you're doing everything that you can to make sure we don't escape it, because it's to your personal advantage...rather than for the good of the country and its people.

In discussing this upcoming event, Beck recently said, "One reason why it's historic is because it may be the last time that anyone is allowed to hold a rally at 8/28." No, Mr. Beck...people will still be allowed to hold a rally that day...but the group getting the permit and planning the rally had better be damn sure that it pays proper tribute to the ideals that were espoused there on that day in 1963...and yours don't, as much as you may like to try to pretend otherwise. Also, groups in the future who seek to hold a rally on that date and place in the future but who do not share similar ideals, will need to live with the public relations consequences of scheduling an event that is in clear contrast with the historical event they're attempting to supplant.

Back on March 23, 2009 Beck said, "My critics are right, I do have something in common with Howard Beale". Yes, Mr. Beck...you do, in fact you have more in common with him than anyone I have ever seen. You are a caricature of him. Actually, it's almost as if your entire shtick is based on him, except you may be a bit crazier. Your utter lunacy involving "FEMA Concentration Camps" and your claims of assassination plots against you, that "we are headed toward socialism, totalitarianism beyond your wildest imagination", and all the other absolute insanity that you spew, combined with the blackboards and constant weeping tell us that you're certainly at least AS crazy as Beale.

Frankly, the only thing that's missing are the actual words, "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" Well, that, and Beale's suicide threats. In fact, that is the one area in which you do seem to be his opposite, as you have clearly stated on more than one occasion:

"I'm not suicidal, I'm not depressed, I don't like to swim with the fishes, I don't like concrete boots, I'm a very good driver I just had my brakes checked, so if something happens, I think you might know who did it."

"Again, I'd like to remind everybody in the viewing audience, I'm not suicidal, I don't think i can fly off tops of buildings, I don't want to swim in the east river...if something happens..." he turned and pointed to a chalkboard showing the names and photographs of people that he was insanely accusing of plotting his assassination, on a Fox news broadcast on 4/29/10. The list of supposed potential assassins includes environmental organizations, community service organizations, "socially responsible" businesses, Obama administration officials and even President Obama himself.

It is clear that this man is mentally unstable and the fact that so many people are predicted to turn out tomorrow and sully the steps of the Lincoln Memorial to listen to him, and the fool that is Sarah Palin, absolutely sickens me.

Hopefully the hype is being overplayed and it won't be that large an event.  Or, if there is a good turnout, I hope that it really turns out to BE the "non-political" rally it's supposed to be...but I've just got a bad feeling about this...

"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." 

~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.