"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Martin Luther King, Jr.

On Monday, American politicians will be making their obligatory rounds to African-American or civil rights groups to "say nice things" about the dynamic leader whose 1/15 birthday is celebrated then.

Unfortunately, nearly 44 years after he was shot and killed (some believe
with FBI involvement, as they had a long history of harassing and
attempting to discredit him), the civil rights of those in the United States
and its satellites have been steadily eroding.

I believe Dr. King, an ardent opponent of the Vietnam War, would be
appalled at the U.S. occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the de facto
occupation of Palestine, and U.S. attempts to destabilize elected
governments in South America.

I believe he would be appalled at the CIA, FBI, and military involvement
with torture and "indefinite" (i.e. permanent) imprisonment, of not only
non-citizens, but American citizens as well (the FBI even now involved
with a U.S. citizen tortured in Kuwait).

I believe that he would be appalled that the U.S. Supreme Court is allowing
the above mentioned groups and "law enforcement" in general, to continue
restricting and outright denying citizens their constitutional rights to
freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom
from searches and seizures without a reasonable warrant, etc., etc.   I believe
Dr. King, upon seeing this occur, would remind us of what he said
during his lifetime,

     "Never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was legal."

Won't American politicians see a contradiction between the lip service they
are giving to the words and actions of a great man and the words and actions
they are using to UNDO his???