|
Martin Luther King Day
Happy Martin Luther King Day. What an inspring man.
It is interesting to know that despite John Conyers efforts in 1968 King was not honored until the early 80's.
In 1979 133 members voted against the holiday, 9 are still in the House, and 1 has even become the Vice President. That's right, as hard as it is to beleive, Dick Cheney voted against the Martin Luther King holiday.
But that isn't all. John Nichols in his book, Dick: The Man Who is President reveals much more about Cheny's understanding of terrorist organizations when he voted against the release of Nelson Mandela.
"JOHN NICHOLS: You're right. There's a chapter in the book, it's actually entitled “Apartheid's Congressman.” It's about Cheney's service in the house from 1979 to 1989. One of the things that is done in that chapter is a list of the dozens and dozens of votes on which Cheney was one of less than ten members of the house putting him at the extreme edge in voting for very right-wing, very bizarre positions. And I was very delighted about this -- I was delighted to hear finally in a national political debate someone bring up that Mandela vote. I have talked to Nelson Mandela about these issues. He's very blunt about it he says one of the many reasons why he fears Dick Cheney's power in the United states, and Mandela does say, he understands that Cheney is effectively the President of the United States, he says, one of the many reasons that he fears Dick Cheney's power is that in the late 1980's when even prominent republicans like Jack Kemp and Newt Gingrich were acknowledging the crime of Apartheid, Dick Cheney maintained the lie that the ANC was a terrorist organization and a fantasy that Nelson Mandela was a terrorist leader who deserved to be in jail. Frankly it begs very powerful question. If Dick Cheney's judgment was that bad in the late 1980's, why would we believe that it's gotten any better in the early 21st century? "
|
