The Fight for What is Right

Yesterday, Rosa Parks died at the age of 92. It was through her courageous refusal to succumb to the order of a public bus driver to move to the back of the bus, to give her seat to a white person, that the wheels of segregation began to lose their grip on the road to contiued black submission to whites.

Local community black leaders met to decide how to respond to her arrest. The decision was made to peacefully respond to her arrest by boycotting the use of public buses. The entire black community boycotted public buses for 381 days until the law legalizing segregation in public buses was lifted.

The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., one of the leaders involved in the movement, wrote in his book "Stride Toward Freedom":

"Mrs. Parks’ arrest was the precipitating factor rather than the cause of the protest. The cause lay deep in the record of similar injustices...Actually no one can understand the action of Mrs. Parks unless he realizes that eventually the cup of endurance runs over, and the human personality cries out, 'I can take it no longer.'"

Thanks to Rosa Park's courage to stand for what is right, battles against segregation were won and huge progress was made in achieving equality for blacks. Todays African-Americans have benefitted from the brave efforts of individuals like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr.

Related to the fight for what is right, federal prosecutor and Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald continues his investigation into the Plame scandal, putting all the pieces together in his fight for justice. A news item published today reveals Vice President Dick Cheney has been identified as the top level leak of the identity of a CIA asset, Valerie Plame, to his cheif of staff I. Lewis Libby. The latest news comes on the heels of continued pressure on the Bush Administration as Karl Rove, Senior Advisor to President Bush, has been called back for additional grand jury testimony. According to the AP article, both Rove and Libby "face the possibility of indictment".

Unbelievably, there may be a way out of criminal charges for Cheney. Again, from the AP article:

Disclosing the identify of a covert CIA agent can be a crime, but only if the person who discloses it knows the agent is classified as working undercover.

The Times quoted lawyers involved in the case as saying they had no indication Fitzgerald was considering charging Cheney with a crime.

We will have to wait and see whether Cheney has the political clout and relationships to get him out of this one.

Additional pressure on the Bush Administration is coming in the form of criticism to the policies leading to the war in Iraq. Brent Snowcroft, former National Security Advisor, expressed his disagreements in interviews with The New Yorker. Quotes below from Washington Post article "CIA Leak Linked to Dispute Over Iraq Policy":

"The case that I saw for four-plus years was a case I have never seen in my studies of aberrations, bastardizations, perturbations, changes to the national security decision-making process,"

"What I saw was a cabal between the vice president of the United States, Richard Cheney, and the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, on critical issues that made decisions that the bureaucracy did not know were being made."

Lawrence B. Wilkerson, former Chief of Staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

(Note: Humor below.)
Perhaps what is happening in Washington is due to the latest CDC Report on a new STD pandemic:

THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL has issued a no-nonsense, albeit delayed warning about a new, highly virulent strain of socially transmitted disease. This disease is contracted through dangerous and high risk behavior.

The disease is called Gonorrhea Lectim (pronounced "Gonna Re-elect him"). Many victims have contracted it after having been screwed for the past 4 years, in spite of having taken measures to protect themselves from this especially troublesome disease.

Cognitive sequellae of individuals infected with Gonorrhea Lectim include, but are not limited to, anti-social personality disorder traits; delusions of grandeur with a distinct messianic flavor; chronic mangling of the English language; extreme cognitive dissonance; inability to incorporate new information; pronounced xenophobia and homophobia; inability to accept responsibility for actions; exceptional cowardice masked by acts of misplaced bravado; uncontrolled facial smirking; total ignorance of geography and history; tendencies toward creating evangelical theocracies; and a strong propensity for categorical, all-or-nothing behavior.

The disease is sweeping Washington. Naturalists and epidemiologists are amazed and baffled that this malignant disease originated only a few years ago in a Texas bush. Please inform any of your friends and associates who have been acting unusual lately.

Technorati Categories: America, Courage, Dissent, Humanity, Media, News, News and Politics, Opinion, Politics, Racism