I talked to Robin Williams once, about breasts.

As our interview ended, I was telling him about my friend Michael Kelly’s idea for a 1-900 number, not one to call Asian beauties or Swedish babes, but where you’d have an amorous chat with a repressed Irish woman. Williams delightedly riffed on the caricature, playing the role of an older Irish woman answering the sex line in a brusque brogue, ordering a horny caller to go to the devil with his impure thoughts and disgusting desire..

Missing [in Feguson], not that anyone is likely to have noticed, was the calming voice of a national civil-rights leader of the kind that was so impressive during the 1950s and '60s. In those days there was Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Roy Wilkins of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Whitney Young of the National Urban League, Bayard Rustin of the A. Philip Randolph Institute—all solid, serious men, each impressive in different ways, who through dignified forbearance and strategic action, brought down a body of unequivocally immoral laws aimed at America's black population.

King died in 1968, at age 39; Young in 1971 at 50; Wilkins in 1981 at 80; and Rustin in 1987 at 75. None has been replaced by men of anywhere near the same high caliber. In their place today there is only Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, each of whom long ago divested himself of the moral force required of true leadership. One of the small but genuine accomplishments of President Obama has been to keep both of these men from becoming associated with the White House.

dajafi wrote:Bottom line, he probably should hope the Democrats go to Philly or Columbus.

TomatoPie wrote:Facts are yet to be known in this case - but police excesses are all too common, and especially in poor minority neighborhoods. All Americans could use a modern Dr. King to lead on issues like this.

Missing [in Feguson], not that anyone is likely to have noticed, was the calming voice of a national civil-rights leader of the kind that was so impressive during the 1950s and '60s. In those days there was Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Roy Wilkins of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Whitney Young of the National Urban League, Bayard Rustin of the A. Philip Randolph Institute—all solid, serious men, each impressive in different ways, who through dignified forbearance and strategic action, brought down a body of unequivocally immoral laws aimed at America's black population.

King died in 1968, at age 39; Young in 1971 at 50; Wilkins in 1981 at 80; and Rustin in 1987 at 75. None has been replaced by men of anywhere near the same high caliber. In their place today there is only Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, each of whom long ago divested himself of the moral force required of true leadership. One of the small but genuine accomplishments of President Obama has been to keep both of these men from becoming associated with the White House.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/joseph-e ... 1407885042

(If you can't see the full article, google the title and you should get a "free pass" link

dajafi wrote:And while I'm also no fan of Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, they probably deserve some credit for taking the (thankfully, figurative) shots of being the first really high profile African Americans to seek high office (no disrespect to Shirley Chisholm), making it easier for the likes of Obama later on and getting it to the point that someone like Deval Patrick can be a successful multi-term governor with a surprisingly low profile.

TomatoPie wrote:Facts are yet to be known in this case - but police excesses are all too common, and especially in poor minority neighborhoods. All Americans could use a modern Dr. King to lead on issues like this.

Missing [in Feguson], not that anyone is likely to have noticed, was the calming voice of a national civil-rights leader of the kind that was so impressive during the 1950s and '60s. In those days there was Martin Luther King Jr. of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; Roy Wilkins of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Whitney Young of the National Urban League, Bayard Rustin of the A. Philip Randolph Institute—all solid, serious men, each impressive in different ways, who through dignified forbearance and strategic action, brought down a body of unequivocally immoral laws aimed at America's black population.

King died in 1968, at age 39; Young in 1971 at 50; Wilkins in 1981 at 80; and Rustin in 1987 at 75. None has been replaced by men of anywhere near the same high caliber. In their place today there is only Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, each of whom long ago divested himself of the moral force required of true leadership. One of the small but genuine accomplishments of President Obama has been to keep both of these men from becoming associated with the White House.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/joseph-e ... 1407885042

(If you can't see the full article, google the title and you should get a "free pass" link

TomatoPie wrote:

dajafi wrote:And while I'm also no fan of Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton, they probably deserve some credit for taking the (thankfully, figurative) shots of being the first really high profile African Americans to seek high office (no disrespect to Shirley Chisholm), making it easier for the likes of Obama later on and getting it to the point that someone like Deval Patrick can be a successful multi-term governor with a surprisingly low profile.

The tragic part of Jackson and Sharpton is how they exploit those whom they pretend to serve. Without the perception of perpetual victimhood, those charlatans have no base of support. They are self-aggrandizing ambulance-chasers.

As he reached maturity, I fully expected Jesse Jackson to understand his potential legacy, and begin to become useful. Sadly, never a hint of that. He has all the skills, but none of the integrity.

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:No way, I heard from Rush that Al Sharpton was telling the black community to loot shoe stores.

dajafi wrote:At the same time, they have to constantly feed the beast--generating a steady stream of outrage, which drives attention, which drives donations. So their principles are inevitably harnessed to their personal and organizational self-interest. Add in the temptations that come with that kind of power and attention--both the sort that King, a genuinely great man, couldn't resist, which got Jesse too, and the IMO worse one to which Sharpton succumbed with the utterly despicable Tawana Brawley case (for which I could never forgive him)--and they occasionally damage themselves and give ammunition to the people who both hate them personally and oppose what they espouse.

Whatever one thinks of them individually, I hope we can all agree it's a great thing that the likes of Obama, Cory Booker, Dick Parsons and Herman Cain can reach the heights they've achieved, and that it's becoming steadily less of a big deal.

To kind of round off the point, probably the two greatest living civil rights heroes are John Lewis and Bob Moses. Lewis, of course, is now an arch-member of the establishment, having been in Congress for decades. Moses basically dropped out of public life and started creating math-focused education programs. I guess it could be taken as a very encouraging thing that both have spent decades working within "the system," however defined.

dajafi wrote:To kind of round off the point, probably the two greatest living civil rights heroes are John Lewis and Bob Moses. Lewis, of course, is now an arch-member of the establishment, having been in Congress for decades. Moses basically dropped out of public life and started creating math-focused education programs. I guess it could be taken as a very encouraging thing that both have spent decades working within "the system," however defined.

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:Don't forget Julian Bond (notwithstanding his comments last year about the Tea Party). The guy is right up there with John Lewis, Stokely Carmichael, and Marion Berry as a founding father of SNCC.