Republicus Rebuts Bin Laden

Bin Laden: My message to you is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end them.

Republicus: Yes. Bin Laden the Peacemaker.

Bin Laden: I did not intend to speak to you about this because this issue has already been decided. Only metal breaks metal...

Republicus: Right. The metal--and mettle--of our armed forces have broken up your tin-pot caliphate in Afghanistan, and Saddam Hussein's iron-fisted rule in Iraq.

Bin Laden: ...and our situation, thank God, is only getting better and better, while your situation is the opposite of that.

Republicus: Yes. Our land is occupied by Al Qaida. Our previous system of government is dismantled. Our Constitution shredded. Our regional and European allies are embracing sharia. And our brave American patriots can only strap bombs on themselves and do the kamikaze thing (you know, when Japan was losing in WWII and got desperate?) while our leader hides in a cave and warns you--the "winning" Bin Laden-- about divine retribution.

Bin Laden: But I plan to speak about the repeated errors your President Bush has committed in comments on the results of your polls that show an overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

Republicus: Bin Laden the democrat!

Bin Laden: But he (Bush) has opposed this wish and said that withdrawing troops sends the wrong message to opponents, that it is better to fight them (bin Laden's followers) on their land than their fighting us (Americans) on our land.

Republicus: Right.

Bin Laden: I can reply to these errors by saying that war in Iraq is raging with no let-up, and operations in Afghanistan are escalating in our favor, thank God, and Pentagon figures show the number of your dead and wounded is increasing not to mention the massive material losses, the destruction of the soldiers' morale there and the rise in cases of suicide among them.

Republicus: Yeah, look who's talking. Now see here, Usama, I wouldn't be talking about increasing casualty rates if I were you, or massive material losses, the destruction of soldiers' morale, and the rise in cases of suicide among them.

Bin Laden: So you can imagine the state of psychological breakdown that afflicts a soldier as he gathers the remains of his colleagues after they stepped on land mines that tore them apart.

Republicus: What about the "psychological breakdown" that afflicts one of your "soldiers" when they see their own "colleagues" being torn apart by a bomb they strapped on themselves or had hidden in their trunk, and then are praised for the spiteful and homicidal suicide by their leader--YOU?

Obviously, their psychology is already broken down. By YOU.

Bin Laden: After this situation the soldier is caught between two hard options. He either refuses to leave his military camp on patrols and is therefore dogged by ruthless punishments enacted by the Vietnam Butcher (U.S. army) or he gets destroyed by the mines.

Republicus: Projection. I shudder to think what happens to one of your "soldiers" if they stray from the herd and/or come to their senses and have some change of heart.

You give him one choice and one hope to live happily forever after with 70 virgins: Destroy himself with suicide missions.

Bin Laden: This puts him under psychological pressure, fear and humiliation while his nation is ignorant of that (what is going on). The soldier has no solution except to commit suicide.

Republicus: Or frag you, Bin. I'd watch your back with that price-tag on your head.

Bin Laden: That is a strong message to you, written by his soul, blood and pain, to save what can be saved from this hell.

Republicus: M-hm. Projection. Notice how he equates suicide with remedial salvation. He "understands."

Bin Laden: The solution is in your hands if you care about them (the soldiers).

Republicus: Yes, Bin Laden cares about our soldiers and is telling us what's best for them!

Bin Laden: The news of our brother mujahideen (holy warriors) is different from what the Pentagon publishes. They (the news of mujahideen) and what the media report is the truth of what is happening on the ground.

Republicus: Yes, America. Believe Al Jazeera's propaganda and not the reports from our field commanders.

Bin Laden: And what deepens the doubt over the White House's information is the fact that it targets the media reporting the truth from the ground. And it has appeared lately, supported by documents, that the butcher of freedom in the world (Bush) had decided to bomb the headquarters of the Al-Jazeera in Qatar after bombing its offices in Kabul and Baghdad.

Republicus: Bin Laden the Champion of Free Speech! Anyway, wupty-do. Honest Abe Lincoln shut down opposition newspapers in the Union during the Civil War.

Meanwhile, your man in Iraq--Al Zarqawi--kidnaps and decapititates Western journalists.

Bin Laden: On another issue, jihad (holy war) is ongoing, thank God, despite all the oppressive measures adopted by the U.S Army and its agents (which is) to a point where there is no difference between this criminality and Saddam's criminality, as it has reached the degree of raping women and taking them as hostages instead of their husbands.

Republicus: Oh, please. This guy orchestrated 9/11, and his protege--Al Zarqawi--used a knife to saw off the head of a hostage: a weeping female aid worker pleading for her life (among others).

Anyway, read that again. He's whining.

Bin Laden: As for torturing men, they have used burning chemical acids and drills on their joints. And when they give up on (interrogating) them, they sometimes use the drills on their heads until they die. Read, if you will, the reports of the horrors in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons.

Republicus: This guy has some kind of pipeline to all the anti-war outfits. Anyway, I suppose we should've hijacked commercial airliners and slammed them into buildings in Kabul and killed thousands of civilians (men, women, and children) at their place of work one fine day BEFORE we invaded Afghanistan and BEFORE we invaded Iraq.

Bin Laden: And I say that, despite all the barbaric methods, they have not broken the fierceness of the resistance.

Republicus: This guy talks like a projecting and inverting Leftist. He's been whining about the fierceness of the Americans and their coalition and now he praises the truly barbaric ferocity of his mujahideen (but of course, THAT'S justified!).

It's like this, Bin: Despite the barbaric methods YOU guys employ, you have not broken the fierceness of the retaliation. Now you're trying to kiss up to the antiwar crowd here by saying what they want to hear--and have been saying themselves for years--and cause domestic problems and political losses by recreating Vietnam era defeatism.

Bin Laden: The mujahideen, thank God, are increasing in number and strength -- so much so that reports point to the ultimate failure and defeat of the unlucky quartet of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz.

Republicus: "Strength in numbers?" Bin, I hate to break this to you, but the whole civilized world considers you Public Enemy Number One.

Bin Laden: Declaring this defeat is just a matter of time, depending partly on how much the American people know of the size of this tragedy.

Republicus: Declaring your demise is just a matter of time, Bin.

Look, here's the "size of the tragedy" he's talking about: He was a veritable prince in Saudi Arabia. He was a caliph of sorts in Afghanistan. Now he's slumming in the badlands of Pakistan as the Most Wanted Man in the World.

Bin Laden: The sensible people realize that Bush does not have a plan to make his alleged victory in Iraq come true.

Republicus: lol He's kissing up to the "sensible" antiwar crowd and encouraging them to keep up their EXACT SAME CHARGE, i.e. "Bush has no plan for victory!"

Which indicates that this tape is a couple of months old and preceded Bush's four speeches which answered that charge and laid out a plan for victory.

Bin Laden: And if you compare the small number of dead on the day that Bush announced the end of major operations in that fake, ridiculous show aboard the aircraft carrier with the tenfold number of dead and wounded who were killed in the smaller operations, you would know the truth of what I say.

Republicus: This guy reads Moveon.org, Antiwar.com, and Daily Kos and is pushing the same stupid buttons.

e.g. "Abu Ghraib!" "No Plan For Victory!" "The Flight Suit!"

Major operations were accomplished. We had unleashed Shock & Awe (a MAJOR operation), and were in control of Baghdad, out of which Saddam bailed and was on the run.

Bin Laden: This is that Bush and his administration do not have the will or the ability to get out of Iraq for their own private, suspect reasons.

Republicus: Oh, so staying in Iraq demonstrates a "lack of will?" lol And he's daring: "Oh, you can't leave because you are unable to!" And we're supposed to go: "Oh yeah? Sez you! Watch us leave tomorrow and prove you wrong!"

Bin Laden: And so to return to the issue, I say that results of polls please those who are sensible...

Republicus: Yeah, like the antiwar crowd.

Bin Laden: ...and Bush's opposition to them is a mistake. The reality shows that the war against America and its allies has not been limited to Iraq as he (Bush) claims.

Republicus: The administration does consider Iraq the central front of The War on Terror, but SO DO YOU, Bin. Hey everyone, he himself said that the "War" against America--which he himself declared twice in the late 1990's-- will be won or lost in Iraq.

And get of your cave, Bin. Everyone knows about London's 9/11 and other such wider manifestations of Jihadist terrorism.

Bin Laden: Iraq has become a point of attraction and restorer of (our) energies.

Republicus: Right. Come and get it.

Bin Laden: At the same time, the mujahideen (holy warriors), with God's grace, have managed repeatedly to penetrate all security measures adopted by the unjust allied countries.

Republicus: "Repeatedly?" Come on, Bin. You're all just a bunch of one-hit wonders, at this point.

It is WE who have managed repeatedly to penetrate "security measures" and decimate your own organization and uncover--and appropriately deal with-- hidden ranks of like-minded thugs.

Bin Laden: The proof of that is the explosions you have seen in the capitals of the European nations who are in this aggressive coalition. The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures. The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through (with preparations), with God's permission.

Republicus: But what about the "truce?"

Bin Laden: Based on what has been said, this shows the errors of Bush's statement -- the one that slipped from him -- which is at the heart of polls calling for withdrawing the troops. It is better that we (Americans) don't fight Muslims on their lands and that they don't fight us on ours.

Republicus: The erroneous statement was the one that slipped out of this weasly-mouthed manipulator when he called us a "paper-tiger," before deciding--in full faith of that erroneous presumption-- to crash commercial airliners into the brain-center of our national defense in the Nation's Capital (i.e. the Pentagon), the World Trade Center in the Big Apple, and almost into our house of Congress: The U.S. Capital Building.

Bin Laden: We don't mind offering you a long-term truce on fair conditions that we adhere to.

Republicus: Right, you have us on our knees and you're the one being chivalrous by offering a "truce."

Bin Laden: We are a nation that God has forbidden to lie and cheat.

Republicus: What a coincidence.

But what do you call boarding a commercial airplane on false pretenses and using it as a WMD that murders thousands of innocent civilians one fine day?

LYING and CHEATING.

Bin Laden: So both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed in this war.

Republicus: That's your own fault. And Saddam's.

Bin Laden: There is no shame in this solution, which prevents the wasting of billions of dollars that have gone to those with influence and merchants of war in America who have supported Bush's election campaign with billions of dollars -- which lets us understand the insistence by Bush and his gang to carry on with war.

Republicus: You should write for The Daily Kos, Moveon.org, Antiwar.com, or The Nation, Bin. They love that stuff.

Actually, maybe he is...

Bin Laden: If you (Americans) are sincere in your desire for peace and security, we have answered you.

Republicus: Answer in person. Come on. Don't be afraid.

Bin Laden: And if Bush decides to carry on with his lies and oppression, then it would be useful for you to read the book "Rogue State," which states in its introduction: "If I were president, I would stop the attacks on the United States: First I would give an apology to all the widows and orphans and those who were tortured. Then I would announce that American interference in the nations of the world has ended once and for all."

Republicus: Yeah, Rogue State. Look, YOU apologize to the widows and orphans of 9/11, and end your interference to our national interests.

YOU came here on 9/11, butthead.

Bin Laden: Finally, I say that war will go either in our favor or yours.

Republicus: That's how it usually works out, Bin.

Bin Laden: If it is the former, it means your loss and your shame forever, and it is headed in this course.

Republicus: Yeah. We're getting so pummeled that our leader is in hiding and afraid to show his face (not to mention use a cell-phone) and can only release an annual manifesto from some undisclosed location while our soldiers go on desperate kamikaze missions.

Bin Laden: If it is the latter, read history! We are people who do not stand for injustice and we will seek revenge all our lives.

Republicus: M-hm.

Bin Laden: The nights and days will not pass without us taking vengeance like on Sept. 11, God permitting.

Republicus: Go to hell.

Bin Laden: Your minds will be troubled and your lives embittered.

Republicus: Like yours?

Bin Laden: As for us, we have nothing to lose.

Republicus: Except the war.

Bin Laden: A swimmer in the ocean does not fear the rain.

Republicus: Fear sharing the ocean with the newly-launched U.S.S. Ronald Reagan. Hey-O.

Bin Laden: You have occupied our lands...

Republicus: No, the Taliban, Baathists, and assorted Jihadists occupied "your lands."

Bin Laden: ...offended our honor and dignity and let out our blood and stolen our money and destroyed our houses and played with our security...

Republicus: Like...9/11?

Bin Laden: ...and we will give you the same treatment.

Republicus: Bring it on.

Bin Laden: You have tried to prevent us from leading a dignified life, but you will not be able to prevent us from a dignified death.

Republicus: M-hm. "Dignified death" is code for suicide terrorism.

Bin Laden: Failing to carry out jihad, which is called for in our religion, is a sin.

Republicus: See? He was projecting when he characterized our soldiers thusly:

So you can imagine the state of psychological breakdown that afflicts (an American) soldier as he gathers the remains of his colleagues after they stepped on land mines that tore them apart. After this situation the soldier is caught between two hard options. He either refuses to leave his military camp on patrols and is therefore dogged by ruthless punishments enacted by the Vietnam Butcher (U.S. army) or he gets destroyed by the mines. This puts him under psychological pressure, fear and humiliation while his nation is ignorant of that (what is going on). The soldier has no solution xcept to commit suicide.

The "two hard choices" Bin Freud here is projecting is the "psychological pressure, fear, and humiliation" that his brainwashed followers experience for "failing to carry out jihad, which is called for in our religion, (and) is a sin."

They feel they have no choice but to embark on a suicide mission.

Bin Laden: The best death to us is under the shadows of swords.

Republicus: "Those who live by the sword, die by the sword." Jesus Christ. Remember those words, Bin.

Bin Laden: Don't let your strength and modern arms fool you. They win a few battles but lose the war. Patience and steadfastness are much better.

Republicus: Generally true.

Bin Laden: We were patient in fighting the Soviet Union with simple weapons for 10 years and we bled their economy and now they are nothing.

Republicus: Actually, the strength of the modern arms we supplied you with helped, Bin.

And what's your caliphate in Afghanistan? Now it is nothing. In a matter of months.

Saddam's Baathist regime and machinery?

Nothing. Gone.

Bin Laden: In that there is a lesson for you.

Republicus: Here's a lesson for you, Bin Laden. You are in hiding. Your organization has been decimated. We are cultivating fledgling democracies in Afghanistan (formerly your little caliphate) and Iraq. Terrorism has been stigmatized. It is NOT a legitimate--or acceptable--form of political expression. You--the terrorist par excellence--are The Most Wanted Man in the World.

Now you even pissed off the French to the point where they just yesterday threatened to nuke any nation that sponsors/harbors any terrorists which attack them in the future.

You thought America was a paper-tiger. You said so, and referred to our evasive maneuvers in Lebanon and Somalia as proof. You thought--and apparently still think--that just as the mujahideen held off the Soviets in Afghanistan, they'll hold off the Americans and the coalition.

But we're already in there. We've encouraged and are now nurturing a democracy which is even now helping in the hunt for terrorists.

Republicus knows what the un-hinged antiwar crowd is saying. They're saying that you really wanted Bush to be re-elected, and that the war is going on exactly as you planned.

But between you and me, Bin, you know--and I know--that the disaster is yours.

Wall Street Terrorized?

January 20, 2006
Associated Press

The Dow Jones industrial average declined 213.72 points, or 1.96 percent, at 10,666.99. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 23.74 points, or 1.85 percent, at 1,261.30. The technology-laced Nasdaq Composite Index tumbled 54.21 points, or 2.36 percent, at 2,247.60.

For the week, the Dow fell 2.7 percent, the S&P 500 slid 1.9 percent and Nasdaq declined 2.85 percent.

Human Beings At Their Worst

The following is the full text of a new audiotape from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden. Parts of the tape were aired on Al-Jazeera television, which published the entire version on its Web site. The text was translated from the Arabic by The Associated Press.

Bin Laden appears to be addressing the American people:


My message to you is about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and how to end them. I did not intend to speak to you about this because this issue has already been decided. Only metal breaks metal, and our situation, thank God, is only getting better and better, while your situation is the opposite of that.

But I plan to speak about the repeated errors your President Bush has committed in comments on the results of your polls that show an overwhelming majority of you want the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. But he (Bush) has opposed this wish and said that withdrawing troops sends the wrong message to opponents, that it is better to fight them (bin Laden's followers) on their land than their fighting us (Americans) on our land.

I can reply to these errors by saying that war in Iraq is raging with no let-up, and operations in Afghanistan are escalating in our favor, thank God, and Pentagon figures show the number of your dead and wounded is increasing not to mention the massive material losses, the destruction of the soldiers' morale there and the rise in cases of suicide among them. So you can imagine the state of psychological breakdown that afflicts a soldier as he gathers the remains of his colleagues after they stepped on land mines that tore them apart. After this situation the soldier is caught between two hard options. He either refuses to leave his military camp on patrols and is therefore dogged by ruthless punishments enacted by the Vietnam Butcher (U.S. army) or he gets destroyed by the mines. This puts him under psychological pressure, fear and humiliation while his nation is ignorant of that (what is going on). The soldier has no solution except to commit suicide. That is a strong message to you, written by his soul, blood and pain, to save what can be saved from this hell. The solution is in your hands if you care about them (the soldiers).

The news of our brother mujahideen (holy warriors) is different from what the Pentagon publishes. They (the news of mujahideen) and what the media report is the truth of what is happening on the ground. And what deepens the doubt over the White House's information is the fact that it targets the media reporting the truth from the ground. And it has appeared lately, supported by documents, that the butcher of freedom in the world (Bush) had decided to bomb the headquarters of the Al-Jazeera in Qatar after bombing its offices in Kabul and Baghdad.

On another issue, jihad (holy war) is ongoing, thank God, despite all the oppressive measures adopted by the U.S Army and its agents (which is) to a point where there is no difference between this criminality and Saddam's criminality, as it has reached the degree of raping women and taking them as hostages instead of their husbands.

As for torturing men, they have used burning chemical acids and drills on their joints. And when they give up on (interrogating) them, they sometimes use the drills on their heads until they die. Read, if you will, the reports of the horrors in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons.

And I say that, despite all the barbaric methods, they have not broken the fierceness of the resistance. The mujahideen, thank God, are increasing in number and strength -- so much so that reports point to the ultimate failure and defeat of the unlucky quartet of Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz. Declaring this defeat is just a matter of time, depending partly on how much the American people know of the size of this tragedy. The sensible people realize that Bush does not have a plan to make his alleged victory in Iraq come true.

And if you compare the small number of dead on the day that Bush announced the end of major operations in that fake, ridiculous show aboard the aircraft carrier with the tenfold number of dead and wounded who were killed in the smaller operations, you would know the truth of what I say. This is that Bush and his administration do not have the will or the ability to get out of Iraq for their own private, suspect reasons.

And so to return to the issue, I say that results of polls please those who are sensible, and Bush's opposition to them is a mistake. The reality shows that the war against America and its allies has not been limited to Iraq as he (Bush) claims. Iraq has become a point of attraction and restorer of (our) energies. At the same time, the mujahideen (holy warriors), with God's grace, have managed repeatedly to penetrate all security measures adopted by the unjust allied countries. The proof of that is the explosions you have seen in the capitals of the European nations who are in this aggressive coalition. The delay in similar operations happening in America has not been because of failure to break through your security measures. The operations are under preparation and you will see them in your homes the minute they are through (with preparations), with God's permission.

Based on what has been said, this shows the errors of Bush's statement -- the one that slipped from him -- which is at the heart of polls calling for withdrawing the troops. It is better that we (Americans) don't fight Muslims on their lands and that they don't fight us on ours.

We don't mind offering you a long-term truce on fair conditions that we adhere to. We are a nation that God has forbidden to lie and cheat. So both sides can enjoy security and stability under this truce so we can build Iraq and Afghanistan, which have been destroyed in this war. There is no shame in this solution, which prevents the wasting of billions of dollars that have gone to those with influence and merchants of war in America who have supported Bush's election campaign with billions of dollars -- which lets us understand the insistence by Bush and his gang to carry on with war.

If you (Americans) are sincere in your desire for peace and security, we have answered you. And if Bush decides to carry on with his lies and oppression, then it would be useful for you to read the book "Rogue State," which states in its introduction: "If I were president, I would stop the attacks on the United States: First I would give an apology to all the widows and orphans and those who were tortured. Then I would announce that American interference in the nations of the world has ended once and for all."

Finally, I say that war will go either in our favor or yours. If it is the former, it means your loss and your shame forever, and it is headed in this course. If it is the latter, read history! We are people who do not stand for injustice and we will seek revenge all our lives. The nights and days will not pass without us taking vengeance like on Sept. 11, God permitting. Your minds will be troubled and your lives embittered. As for us, we have nothing to lose. A swimmer in the ocean does not fear the rain. You have occupied our lands, offended our honor and dignity and let out our blood and stolen our money and destroyed our houses and played with our security and we will give you the same treatment.

You have tried to prevent us from leading a dignified life, but you will not be able to prevent us from a dignified death. Failing to carry out jihad, which is called for in our religion, is a sin. The best death to us is under the shadows of swords. Don't let your strength and modern arms fool you. They win a few battles but lose the war. Patience and steadfastness are much better. We were patient in fighting the Soviet Union with simple weapons for 10 years and we bled their economy and now they are nothing.

In that there is a lesson for you.

PLUTO PROBE PREPARES FOR LAUNCH

Associated Press
Tuesday, January 17, 2006

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — A piano-sized space probe neared the end of its countdown Tuesday for a mission to Pluto, the solar system's last unexplored planet, and to study a mysterious zone of icy objects at the outer edges of the planetary system.

Even though the scheduled afternoon liftoff was intended to make New Horizons the fastest spacecraft ever launched, the distance involved means scientists won't be able to receive data on Pluto until at least July 2015, the earliest date the mission is expected to arrive.

"To make a decision to work in the field of space science is almost the ultimate in delayed gratification," NASA administrator Michael Griffin said at a news conference Tuesday.

A successful journey to Pluto would complete an exploration of the planets started by NASA in the early 1960s with unmanned missions to observe Mars, Mercury and Venus.

"What we know about Pluto today could fit on the back of a postage stamp," Colleen Hartman, a deputy associate administrator at NASA, said earlier. "The textbooks will be rewritten after this mission is completed."

The launch also drew attention from opponents of nuclear power because the spacecraft is powered by 24 pounds of plutonium, whose natural radioactive decay will generate electricity for the probe's instruments.

Pluto is the only planet discovered by a U.S. citizen, though some astronomers dispute Pluto's right to be called a planet. It is an oddball icy dwarf unlike the rocky planets of Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars and the gaseous planets of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.

"My dad would be absolutely thrilled to see this," said Annette Tombaugh-Sitze, whose father, astronomer Clyde Tombaugh, discovered Pluto in 1930. Members of the Tombaugh family, including Tombaugh's 93-year-old widow, Patricia, planned to watch the launch at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Pluto is the brightest body in a zone of the solar system known as the Kuiper Belt, made up of thousands of icy, rocky objects, including tiny planets whose development was stunted by unknown causes. Scientists believe studying those "planetary embryos" can help them understand how planets were formed.

"Something, and we don't understand what ... stopped that process of growth and left us with this fantastic relic, this forensic evidence of planets that were arrested in the midstage of growth," said Alan Stern, the $700 million mission's principal investigator.

An Atlas V rocket was programed to speed New Horizons away from Earth at 36,000 mph, the fastest launch speed on record.

The craft will reach Earth's moon in about nine hours and arrive in 13 months at Jupiter, where it will use the giant planet's gravity as a slingshot, shaving five years off the 3-billion-mile trip.

Some NASA safety managers had raised concerns about a rocket fuel tank since a similar test tank failed a factory pressure evaluation. The decision was made to fly since the flight tank was in pristine condition and had no signs of any defects like the ones found on the test tank, said NASA launch director Omar Baez.

Thirty anti-nuclear protesters showed up recently to oppose this mission's plutonium-powered generator, compared to hundreds who protested the launch more than eight years of the Cassini mission to Saturn, which carried 72 pounds of plutonium.

The two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, sent up in 2003, had much smaller amounts of plutonium, which also was used on six Apollo flights.

NASA and the Department of Energy estimated the probability of a launch accident that could release plutonium at 1 in 350. As a precaution, the agencies brought in 16 mobile field teams that can detect radiation and 33 air samplers and monitors.

MLK Holiday

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity. But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free.

One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land.

So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition. In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation.

So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights.

The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges. But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. we must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" we can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal." I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood. I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers. I have a dream today. I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Martin Luther King, Jr., delivered from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. on August 28, 1963.

Well, I don’t know what will happen now; we’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn’t matter with me now, because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life - longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over, and I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight , that we, as a people, will get to the promised land. So I’m happy tonight; I’m not worried about anything; I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.

Martin Luther King, Jr., April 3, 1968, Memphis, Tennessee

He was shot and killed the next day.