MLK Would Be Ashamed of Us

Thousands attend dedication of Martin Luther King Jr Monument

(NEWSER) - Forty-three years after Martin Luther King Jr. was killed by an assassin's bullets, the nation's first black president today led an all-star tribute to the civil rights activist who "stirred our conscience" and made our Union "more perfect." "I know we will overcome," proclaimed President Obama at the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Monument. The giant granite statue stands just to the southeast of where King delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, notes the AP . More»

Bob Herbert, Charles Blow vent about today's rally

(NEWSER) - Bob Herbert and Charles Blow use their New York Times columns today to rip Glenn Beck's DC rally:

• Herbert: "America is better than Glenn Beck," he writes, criticizing the Fox persona as "a provocateur who likes to play with matches in the tinderbox of racial and ethnic confrontation. He seems oblivious to the real danger of his execrable behavior. ... My sincere advice to Beck, Palin and their followers is chill, baby, chill." Full column here .

Mostly because he says so

(NEWSER) - It's the dawn of Glenn Beck's much-debated Restoring Honor rally on the anniversary of MLK's Dream, and Washington Post scribe Dana Milbank—the author of a forthcoming Beck biography—takes a somewhat incredulous look at the white guy with the borderline racist track record and his bid to co-opt the civil rights movement. Beck, he writes, "apparently has determined that the best defense is to be patently offensive." More»

But remember that he rejected 'hateful rhetoric'

(NEWSER) - The son of Martin Luther King Jr. says his father "would be the first to say" that Glenn Beck and his supporters have the right to rally in Washington this weekend—the anniversary of the "I Have a Dream" speech. But he'd like to remind everyone of a few of his father's values: "His dream rejected hateful rhetoric and all forms of bigotry or discrimination, whether directed at race, faith, nationality, sexual orientation or political beliefs," writes MLK III in the Washington Post . More»

Robert Samuelson outlines the feud between the bearded economists

(NEWSER) - Call it the "battle of the beards," suggests Robert Samuelson of the Washington Post : Paul Krugman vs. Ben Bernanke. Both are prominent economists, both have facial hair aplenty, and each has called the other "reckless." Krugman has been lambasting the Fed for not doing enough to help the economy recover—even if it means boosting inflation. Inflation, he argues, isn't so scary. Rising prices would encourage people to buy now, not later, and it would reduce the "real" value of debt. More»