Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

Why is it legal for a woman to rent her pregnant belly, but not other parts of her anatomy?

I’ve always seen a some of Theodore Roosevelt in Dubya. If you know little about Teddy, or simply want to know more, you should read The manliness of Theodore Roosevelt at the New Criterion. Then, if you want to learn even more, check my reading list in the left column and go to Amazon for Theodore Rex for the full story on his presidency.

It was a good one.

Taranto points us to a lodge that proclaims, “WE WELCOME DIVERSITY. Respecting the interdependence & diversity of all life.” They apparently require you to bring your notarized ballot from the Presidential election before you can register:

FOR REASONS OF HEALTH & SAFETY OCEAN HAVEN CANNOT ACCOMMODATE SMOKERS,PETS, FOLKS TRAVELING IN A HUMMER, OR FOLKS WHO VOTED FOR BUSH & HIS NATURE DESTRUCTIVE POLICIES

And they’re serious about smoke:

NO BEACH FIRES * NO BBQ * NO CANDLES * NO INSENCE.

At least, I think “insence” creates smoke.

Looks like a nice place. Unfortunately, I’ll never be allowed to visit.

This one is for that young man standing behind his brothers in the photo below.

Tim points to a quiz for liberals done by John Hawkins. I admit right up front that I was unable to answer “yes” to a single question, although there were a few I had to ponder as to whether I thought the premise was reasonable–not whether I agreed with it.

John put this together in response to another quiz put together by Kevin Drum, and the comments there run the gamut from sensible to lunatic.

I agree with John that the questions seem reasonable to ask. So many of these are issues raised not just on liberal web sites, but on national television as well. And a couple come directly from comments on Drum’s site. Tim offers his comments section for scoring by anyone who visits.

Martin Luther King, Jr., is a man I respected. Last year, I wrote a small piece about him. Today I wanted to do something more, so I spent a lot of time searching for the text of a speech King gave which has become known as “The Street Sweeper Speech.” No luck. I did find the quote which generated the name for the speech:

If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry.

He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.

Unfortunately, most people care only about this line rather than its context. And that context, along with most of his other speeches and sermons, showed that King was not interested in the essence of “being black,” but in the concept of individuality. One other piece sums up his reasons for his belief in individuality, from American Dream sermon

You see, the founding fathers were really influenced by the Bible. The whole concept of the imago dei, as it is expressed in Latin, the “image of God,” is the idea that all men have something within them that God injected. Not that they have substantial unity with God, but that every man has a capacity to have fellowship with God. And this gives him a uniqueness, it gives him worth, it gives him dignity.

Dignity. It is an individual trait. King viewed mankind in the same way as my site looks today–No, not black and white, but colorless. And individuals cannot begin to realize their own potential until they accept what King spoke of. One man who achieved, and was an example King recognized, was Frederick Douglass, whom I also wrote about last January. He lived the life King advocated, pushing himself to excel.

This week, and all next month, hucksters of all colors will remember King as a man who struggled to achieve equal rights for blacks in this country. That sells him short, and ignores the greater goal he espoused. And they ignore it for a reason–He advocated personal responsibility.

****UPDATE****

It is too easy to predict Jackson:

In a passionate speech at Dixon Grove Baptist Church in Jonesboro, south of King’s native Atlanta, Jackson assailed the war in Iraq and insisted the gap between rich and poor in America is widening despite King’s message of peace and equality.