I’ve never watched Tony Bourdain’s show on the Travel Channel titled No Reservations, but today, he has become one of my heroes.

I’ve just watched a clip of a show he did in Laos that moved me more than anything has in a very long time. It chronicles the legacy of US imperialism and its impact on one small country that bore no challenge to us other than a happenstance of location. And it also chronicles one man’s life that was forever changed because of this and his question to all of us …”Are you afraid of seeing the reality?”

A few weeks ago, NPK wrote an essay about the work of Dr. Erik Camayd-Freixas, a certified Spanish-language translator for the federal courts, to document his experience with the horrendous ICE raid in Postville, Iowa. I am happy to report that people are not letting this travesty pass without notice.

First of all, members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus held a hearing about the raid last Saturday. Big props to Reps. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., Albio Sires, D-N.J., and Joe Baca, D-Calif. for your courage!!!!!

And on Sunday, an interfaith group of over 1,000 people representing Catholics, Jews and Lutherans held a rally and march in Postville to speak their minds and show their solidarity.

Every once in a while I run across something on the internets that goes deep and touches my soul. That was my experience when I read a post by Nezua at The Unapologetic Mexican titled We Stand In No (Every) Place.

So here’s a bit of it.

Every once in awhile, someone speaks on the internets in a way that goes deep and touches the soul. For me, Nezua did that yesterday in a post at The Unapologetic Mexican titled We Stand In No (Every) Place.

So here’s a bit of it.

I can’t imagine two people who have had a bigger impact on the struggles of the left than Tom Hayden and Naomi Klein. Would you be interested in knowing what motivated them to become activists? Or hear them have a conversation on topics like:

Something worth giving your life to

Making ripples

Blending journalism and activism

Online activism and street activism

Walking towards the fear

Embracing your inner misfit

Thanks to the work of This Brave Nation, that’s possible. Here’s the video of that conversation.

This is going to be an essay about racism. So if you’d rather not read about that subject or discuss it, I’d suggest you check out the other fine essays on this blog.

It has, however, been suggested that those of us for whom this is an important topic should just move over. I wanted to share some of my personal and professional experience to explain why I won’t do that.

One of the many reasons I loved Molly Ivins is that we shared some significant things in terms of our background. Both of us were raised in East Texas. One of the first things I ever read of Molly’s was an article in Ms. Magazine about her journey out of dysfunctional conservatism (sorry, no link. I’ve looked and can’t find it online). Molly said that as a child, she was told to drink only out of the public water fountain labeled for “whites” because the one for “coloreds” was dirty. In all her childhood innocence, she noticed that the colored water fountain was actually cleaner due to lack of use. It was as a result of this kind of experience that she saw, for the first time, that she was being lied to. Recognizing racism was the beginning of opening her eyes to the way the world really works.

I had a similar experience while going to a conservative christian college with very few black students. I was blessed to be befriended by one of the only African American women attending the school. One day, as we were walking across campus, she said, “Sometimes I just get sooo tired of only seeing white faces around here.” It was like someone hit me over the head with a brick. That was the first time I caught a glimpse of what the world looks like through black eyes and I’ve been curious about it ever since. It was my journey to understand racism that eventually opened my eyes to the political and religious lies I had been told all my life.

Yeah, I know its Monday. But I’m feeling in the mood for some funk. And since we’re in the heart of summer – how bout some summertime music? Here’s a few – starting with, what is in my opinion, the classic for the season.

What do a turtle, a crevasse, and a raging river have in common? I don’t know. Perhaps you can tell me after reading these words of wisdom that, for some reason, came together in my mind today.

Whenever people talk about getting back to the good old days in this country I get confused. I immediately wonder what days they’re talking about. I think that what we refer to as “good” is all too often in the eye of the beholder.

Most times the pull to some mythical wonderful past in this country takes us to the glory days of WWII and its aftermath in the 50’s. Those were the years of my childhood, and yes, there were certainly some good things about that time.

But when we open our eyes to historical facts, we learn a different story of those years and the reality that they were anything but the “good old days” for far too many.

I just recently read an article by Tim Wise that was written in the aftermath of the Jeremiah Wright controversy. He has a powerful story to tell us about how we think of history. Its titled Of National Lies and Racial America.

While we’ve all been worried about another four years of McBush or whether Obama is a closeted neo-con, another sinister plot has been gaining momentum, mostly unnoticed by the blogs, the voters, and (dare I say it?) the world.

No, I’m not talking about Skull and Bones or the Tri-Lateral Commission. Those might, in fact, be groups with hidden and sinister agendas. But then, how hidden can they be if we all know about them? And from what I’ve seen, those kinds of groups have been around for decades. So I’d say…nothing new here, move right along.

But this new group has controlled the White House during the last four out of six presidencies. And no matter who we elect in 2008 (McCain or Obama), they will control it again because both of these men are members of this group.

Curious?

Well, follow me below the fold and I’ll clue you in on this dangerous conspiracy. But here’s a hint.

I would suppose that most of us have heard the following quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.

Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You don’t have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.

But I wonder how many of you, like me, did not know that this quote came from a sermon with the same title as this essay? Yes, MLK was talking about The Drum Major Instinct when he said that.

Yesterday I read the sermon, and I’d like to share some of it with all of you. He gave the sermon on February 4, 1968 at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia, exactly 2 months before he was assassinated.

We all know that the hallmark of John Edward’s presidential campaign was ending poverty in this country. And during the primaries, we were able to hear at least some of his thoughts about how to do that.

But did you know that Newt Gingrich also has a plan to end poverty? Well, until today, I didn’t either. And since both Edwards and Gingrich have written articles recently about their ideas, I thought it might be interesting to compare them. Neither of these men is running for any office right now (at least not that I’m aware of). And when I read these, it reminded me of some of the basic fundamental differences between the Democratic/left and the Republican/right. So lets take a look.