MLK Jr. Day

Martin Luther King, rest in peace, they're appropriating your image for many of the wrong reasons, and for that I am sorry.

I did NOT get the day off from work here in Spain. As many of you damn well know, the last person who'd probably ever get recognized for his important contributions to civil rights is Martin Luther King Jr. I had the great fortune of attending an assembly as a youngin' in my elementary school where Jackie Robinson's widow came and talked about the man, his teammates and the game of baseball. I was so proud to be American back then, nowadays, even with Obama partying like it's 1999 (we all wish it was) and Roger Cohen rewriting Billy Joel "classics" (which I'm personally all for), it's a lot harder to maintain the wonder that I held for a hero like Jackie Robinson. For all those not in the know, he put up with a WHOLE lot of shit from the US Army, and became a commissioned officer only after the great heavyweight Joe Louis pulled some strings (with his beautiful hands...), he had his own mini-Rosa Parks like episode in which he was charged with a litany of crimes that he clearly had not committed. His baseball career started at 28, which is not all that late when you consider Ryan Howard's rookie campaign was at 27 (thanks Jim Thome...).

So, yes the President plays basketball; I like his form on the jumper. He also is an avid reader and, get this, writer. So we have mad shit to be proud of, but none if means anything if the most diabolical bank in the world is still fucking us over (Citibank has its hands in Target, Verizon, Yum Foods [KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut] and a plethora of other highly visible institutions)

I don't know if it means much of anything, but check out this website.