Politicizing another funeral...

[Trunk Monkey]

Now I know you are crazy. Jesse and Al CREATE the chaos and divide - they don't repair it. It's what they do for a living, create racial strife.

And Al Sharpton has zero credibility until he pays the money he owes Steven Pagones for ruining his life in the Tawana Brawley hoax. Yeah, that Al - he's a real helper, isn't he?

I am right behind you.

 

[Ken King]

Ken King, that rule was created many moons ago. The religious leaders of yesterday may have been able to hold back their political views in the pulpit but today we are in a very different America.

When churches are being bombed it is terrorism, which part of terrorism do you want the church to keep quiet about? Is it the part that affects the government buildings on the part that affects people?


What about interest rates and lending practices. These things affect the churches who need to refinance or build a bigger church for a growing congregation. Should they have to take it or must they pay taxes to speak up about a political action?

The only thing I agree with is that a rule is a rule but when a foot is on someone's neck they tend to scream. Even if they promised not to.

The rantings about the war and slapping at the President was intended solely to ridicule the President and further Reverend Lowery's political agenda. He and his church enjoy tax freedom at the expense of being apolitical and as such they should remain that way. If they want to make political speeches and sway votes from the pulpit then they should enjoy the right to be taxed like the remainder of our society (with the exception of JPC, of course).

 

[vraiblonde]

The religious leaders of yesterday may have been able to hold back their political views in the pulpit but today we are in a very different America.

Lexi, do you not agree that the law is the law? If you don't like the law, work to have it changed - don't just disregard it.

It wasn't too long ago that a church was threatened with having their tax-exempt status taken away because the minister endorsed George Bush from the pulpit. Yet black churches routinely have Democrat candidates up to speak to the congregation, and nobody says a word.

Two sets of rules - one for blacks and one for whites. You should be offended by that, not by me pointing it out.

 

[sleuth]

You're right about that.....but....If the liberals want us to separate church and state in the schools, then they have to do the same in the pulpit.

but conservatives don't want that... at least i don't.
in the last election.. my minister all but out and out told us who to vote for...

In his sermon "Saving America".. he kept referring to each man as candidate 1 or candidate 2... and spoke about the impact their positions might have on a christian culture...

he never named any names or parties... but everyone knew who he was talking about.

 

[donbarzini]

but conservatives don't want that... at least i don't.

Neither do I, but for them rail and beat their breasts over "Little(Insert ethnic name of choice)" being "forced" to say "...under god". Then making sure that it is called a "Winter celebration/vacation". No Halloween/Valentines Day celebrations. And forget about calling it Easter vacation. Yet they use the CHURCH to advance their political agenda???? I don't 'effin think so!

 

[BuddyLee]

Here's some Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coretta_Scott_King

I don't think anyone on this board can really know what Mrs. King would have wanted at her funeral. Not everyone wants their funeral to be a 'somber' moment. This woman was very political, read the link. As for me, I think adding politics to the funeral was alright. However, some of the politics mentioned had very little to do with Mrs. King and civil rights IMO and could have been left out.

 

[itsbob]

I thought she was married to the guy who wrote the National Anthem.

Star Bangled Banner, or the K-Mart Jingle??

 

[BuddyLee]

the K-Mart Jingle??

I forgot that one.

 

[duzzey1a]

Then I will tell you, so you don't hurt yourself jumping to conclusions.

Coretta King was a nobody - wife of somebody and that's pretty much it. Prior to her death, if you'd done a "man on the street" and asked "What is Martin Luther King, Jr's widow's name?" 99% of the people polled wouldn't have been able to tell you. So Bush flying the flags at half mast and all those politicians wanting to be seen at her funeral is just silly.

Sorry. That's just the way I see it. If the media has to remind you who she is by attaching "wife of" to her name, then she's not important enough for flags and Presidential funeral attendance.

I'm sorry Vrai, but I cannot agree with you.

--I think that this woman led a very honorable life and as an american, she deserves her place in history. Not only did she survive the rough times of the civil rights era, enduring constant death threats, slurs, and at the very least, the murder of her husband. From all of this, she was able to maintain her dignity, self-respect, and her family. She carried the message of her deceased husband until her own death. There are very few americans that you can identify that has led their life in this way.

As far as politics, I do recall that the message that Dr. King tried to convey had political connotations as well. And I do recall that no US president attended his funeral(might be wrong though).

And what do you think the purpose of flying a flag at half mast is for anyways?

 

[LexiGirl75]

Don't racialize this, please. It's not about Bush attending a "black" funeral. If Clarence Thomas or even Barak Obama died, I would expect Bush to attend.


So have a lot of other people, but I wouldn't expect flags to be flown at half-mast upon their death. Nor would I expect the President to attend their funeral.


And guess what? The President more than likely will not be attending your funeral nor will any flags be flown at half-mast upon your demise.


Typically when a person who was somebody in their own right, their famous spouse gets mentioned as an afterthought, not as the lead-in.


That's very amusing because I think you enjoy racial division, or you wouldn't say things like "why can't Bush go to a black funeral?" when that's not the point and you know it.

P1 - Vrai you are the one that said pandering blacks. I did not make this racial. And, if it you weren't making it racial why was your point in saying he was pandering to "blacks"? Did you really mean Democrats? Oh, because I don't read Revraiblican.

P2 - While I don't expect him to attend the funerals of the King children or for flags to be flown half-mast. I do believe that if she was just a housewife never to be heard of again after King died that she would not have received this honor. My gosh Vrai, you also disagree with everyone who participated yesterday because they all agreed that her life was worth them celebrating in such a way.

P3 - First off Bush may not be at my funeral since I am not expecting to die during his lifetime. But, you don't know who I am or will become in my life nor can you say who will or won't be at my funeral. I can become a police officer and killed in the line of duty and have a flag flown h-m in my honor.

You should celebrate accomplishments whether little or small in the life of other's because you never know who someone was to someone else. I feel sorry for you if someone has to come up with the cure for the common cold just to be recognized by you because that may not come in your lifetime.

P4 - I would say she was headlining the show just fine.

P5 - The last thing I believe in is racial division. We as blacks and whites have come too far to go backwards. But you may believe whatever you want about me because you don't know me.

The way I took what you said about the pandering is >> the funeral was for a black person so the majority of attendees were black people. (FACT) The majority of blacks are Democrats and Bush is a Republican. (TRUE) Bush took a chance going there to pay his respects to a black woman because black people don't like Bush and that is what he gets for going. That's how I took it.

Because I haven't seen a post where you have bitten your tongue I took all of what I read as what how you meant it. It seemed clear as a blue sky and I responded accordingly. I did not create any illusions in your words.

 

[LexiGirl75]

I work in SE DC and in the aftermath of her death, I heard six people(4 of them African-American) refer to her as Loretta Scott King.

How many did you hear state her name correctly?

 

[vraiblonde]

And I do recall that no US president attended his funeral(might be wrong though).

It would have been tacky indeed if LBJ had attended the funeral of the man he disparaged and sicced the FBI on. But he did send his VP.

 

[LexiGirl75]

Now I know you are crazy. Jesse and Al CREATE the chaos and divide - they don't repair it. It's what they do for a living, create racial strife.

And Al Sharpton has zero credibility until he pays the money he owes Steven Pagones for ruining his life in the Tawana Brawley hoax. Yeah, that Al - he's a real helper, isn't he?

I have no idea where you went with this, but please come back.

I am talking about when they all come together in times of struggle like the Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the deaths of Ronald Reagan and Rosa Park, etc. I am not talking about in the political arena.

 

[LexiGirl75]

Have some respect. After all, how many Presidential candidates have you seen making commercials for a loan company? Hmmmmmmmm?

I totally did not agree with that commercial. He was so wrong for that. Those places put people further in debt. I am not saying he is noble I am just saying that he has tried if not succeeded in helping at least once. Even if it was just to give a crying destraught person a hug.

 

[pixiegirl]

I agree with the masses Vrai. Your presentation sucked! You were also very disrespectful to the dead.

You're view of Bush attending the funeral is just as bad as others attacking him. The only reason these democrat idiots continue to act like this is because it gets them attention. Even negative attention is attention ya know.

You don't know and can't claim to know just why Bush attended the funeral. And to jump to conclusions that you do is ridiculous. Just because you don't see CSK as an important figure in history doesn't mean he may not. Hell, if given the opportunity to attend her funeral I woulda gone. If for nothing else to simply pay my respects to someone who lived through the times she lived through and kept her head up even after the murder of her husband. Is it too far fetched to think that Bushey may have gone for similar reasons.

Your behavior is no better then those you're speaking out against.

 

[LexiGirl75]

The rantings about the war and slapping at the President was intended solely to ridicule the President and further Reverend Lowery's political agenda. He and his church enjoy tax freedom at the expense of being apolitical and as such they should remain that way. If they want to make political speeches and sway votes from the pulpit then they should enjoy the right to be taxed like the remainder of our society (with the exception of JPC, of course).

Again I did not agree with that. I think it was embarrassing and you have some preachers like that who do not have tact. I did not hear the entire speech but I did here the part about WMD's and I thought it took away from the entire event. One thing I do not do is embarrass others by putting them on blast at an inappropriate time.

 

[vraiblonde]

The way I took what you said about the pandering is >> the funeral was for a black person so the majority of attendees were black people. (FACT) The majority of blacks are Democrats and Bush is a Republican. (TRUE) Bush took a chance going there to pay his respects to a black woman because black people don't like Bush and that is what he gets for going. That's how I took it.

pan·der ( P ) Pronunciation Key (pndr)
intr.v. pan·dered, pan·der·ing, pan·ders
To act as a go-between or liaison in sexual intrigues; function as a procurer.
To cater to the lower tastes and desires of others or exploit their weaknesses: “He refused to pander to nostalgia and escapism” (New York Times).

It would have been appropriate for Bush to make a brief speech in rememberance of Mrs. King, the way he did with Rosa Parks or any other person of note who dies. The flag bit and attending the funeral, not to mention bringing her up in the State of the Union, was overkill and designed specifically to "reach out to blacks". And while "reaching out to blacks" is all fine and good, you can't be surprised when you reach out to people who hate you and get your hand bitten off.

That's all I was saying. YOU, Miss, got offended and blew it all out of proportion because you're overly sensitive to race.

 

[duzzey1a]

It would have been tacky indeed if LBJ had attended the funeral of the man he disparaged and sicced the FBI on. But he did send his VP.

And yet it is still ironic the our current president attended even after his calling for a nationwide spying program. The FBI(LBJ's era) was notorious for unleashing spying programs on many political groups within out nations inner-cities. But that is besides the point..

 

[ylexot]

I have no idea where you went with this, but please come back.

I am talking about when they all come together in times of struggle like the Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, the deaths of Ronald Reagan and Rosa Park, etc. I am not talking about in the political arena.

Yeah, Katrina...great example. Al and Jesse came together to say that the hurricane and the slow response was racially motivated.

 

[LexiGirl75]

Lexi, do you not agree that the law is the law? If you don't like the law, work to have it changed - don't just disregard it.

It wasn't too long ago that a church was threatened with having their tax-exempt status taken away because the minister endorsed George Bush from the pulpit. Yet black churches routinely have Democrat candidates up to speak to the congregation, and nobody says a word.

Two sets of rules - one for blacks and one for whites. You should be offended by that, not by me pointing it out.

Vrai just because I agree with somethings does not mean I agree with everything black and democratic.

I do remember that church and they should have had it suspended for a period of one or more years and any other churches that speak politics from the pulpit. Like I said a rule is a rule sometimes you have to remind people through penalization what they are held to.