Fourth of July made for brats and beers and blogging progressively

Happy Fourth of July to everyone, especially the progressive bloggers you see linked in the right sidebar. Fighting the good fight against the rising tide of ignorance. We may see some guest bloggers today at hummingbirdminds. Stay tuned...

UPDATE: Prog-bloggers at July Fourth party intensively engaged in bocce tournament. They will be here to guest-blog another day.

Dear Pops: Happy Father's Day from Netroots Nation

Thomas Reed Shay (a.k.a. Big Tom)

Alone on Father's Day. That occurred to me as I awoke this morning. I'm in Minneapolis, Chris is in Cheyenne, Kevin is in Tucson and Annie in Denver. By the end of the day, Chris and I will be together on Father's Day, which is important to both of us. Our kiddos have their own lives, as they should.

My father, Thomas Reed Shay, passed away eight years ago. Wonder what he would have made of the Netroots Nation conference? He turned my age of 60 in 1983, when we were knee-deep in the Reagan era. He was happy with the Reagan era and I was not. He was a moderate conservative, one of those people in the South who first went from Democratic to Republican for Nixon in 1968 and again in 1972. The beginnings of the vaunted Republican Southern Strategy, which culminated in two terms of Ronald Reagan chipping away at federal government programs and protections. And now look what we have.

My father would have found some common ground among the working people at Netroots Nation. He would have objected to some of the tough talk against Republicans. Not sure if he would have much in common with Tea Party Republicans such as Michelle Bachmann, a guest speaker at The Right Online conference held across the street from Netroots Nation. T.R. Shay was a William F. Buckley fan and watched him regularly. Free enterprise, hard work, small government. He believed in all of those principles. So do I.

He was the first in his family to go to college and he did it on the G.I. Bill after four years (two in Europe) as Government Issue (G.I.). He bought his first house with no down payment courtesy of the U.S. Government. He worked on government contracts for Martin-Marietta (now Lockheed-Martin) building ICBM missile silos across the West. Later, he worked on the space program with G.E. and NASA. Government programs.

He was a Florida state government employee (now an endangered species, thanks to wacky Republicans) and later had his own accounting business. He was the first one of us to own a personal computer -- the Apple IIe. We considered it a strange and wondrous thing. He seemed at home with it. He built his own crystal radio sets as a boy in the 1930s and, in the 1950s, built his own hi-fi. Not surprising that he was a radio operator with the U.S. Army Signal Corps in World War II.

If my father were still alive, would he be a blogger? I have no doubt that he would be a confirmed user of Facebook. His handle would be Big Tom, which is what his grandkids called him -- at his insistence ("I'm too young to be a grandfather!") If he blogged, he would be somewhere in the middle, caught between moonbats such as myself and wingnuts such as Andrew Breitbart et.al. He might also find himself closer to what I do, as the center has moved to the Right at the insistence of the Right.

As you can see, I'm thinking about my father today. We didn't always agree. But he was always my father. I miss him.

Cheyenne marks the 25th anniversary of King holiday

Today we celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. Many speeches will be delivered, many of the man's quotes will be requoted. The holiday this year comes on the heels of the violence in Tucson. Violence, of course, is "as American as apple pie," said sixties Black Power activist H. Rap Brown. His original quote mentioned cherry pie. Apparently, that didn't seem American enough. But you get the picture. The U.S. has a history of violence that can't be denied, no matter how many whitewashed texts are written by ultra-conservative revisionists (Lynne Cheney, Glenn Beck, Texas, etc.).

But Americans haven't yet cornered the market on violence. Protesters in Tunisia were gunned down this week. Coalition soldiers continue to be blown up with IEDs planted by Afghanis angry that their relatives were blown up in a U.S. drone attack. Knifings and shootings and beatings and torture are a fact of life worldwide.

Martin Luther King, Jr., was a proponent of nonviolence. He died by the gun, but he didn't promote the gun. Just the opposite. Some black activists did take up guns, although their numbers were wildly exaggerated at the time. But not MLK.

Dr. King gave thousands of speeches that promoted peace and nonviolence. Her actively campaigned against the war against black people in the South. He also opposed the Vietnam War and the Cold War. As he said often, notably in "Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community:"

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars... Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

Chaos or community? Have to wonder if those are the only choices we have. We're not exactly at the chaos point, but closing in on it. Community was much in evidence in Tucson last week, as we all came together for a brief time to honor the dead.

Author and Rice University professor Douglas Brinkley makes a great point in AP story about Dr. King. If we don't create a nation that's serious about nonviolence, Dr. King's legacy may fade away. In 50 years, all that we may be left with is a day off to go buy more trinkets at Wal-Mart.

"The holiday brought the freedom struggle into the main narrative," Brinkley said. "The day is meant to be a moment of reflection against racism, poverty and war. It's not just an African-American holiday. The idea of that day is to try to understand the experience of people who had to overcome racism but in the end are part and parcel of the American quilt."

Two years ago this week, I walked in Tucson's King march. I walked with my son Kevin from the University of Arizona campus to a city park. Nice January Arizona day. The marchers were white and black and Hispanic and Asian, a representative mix of Tucson's population. Many, such as my son, were younger than King was when he was gunned down in 1968. They are aware of his struggle but might not know the full weight of his commitment to nonviolence.

Two years later, some of these same people will march again. They also were out last week at vigils and memorials and funerals for Arizona's dead. Yesterday, hundreds of Tucsonans staged a march from McCormick Park to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords office. Today, many will be volunteering during a "Day of Service" for the King holiday.

Returning from my 2009 trip to Tucson, I watched most of Pres. Obama's inauguration from the Phoenix airport. I thought to myself: "A new America begins today." I jumped the gun a bit was a bit premature with my forecast. Change has begun, but so has a violent reaction to it. We can make progress as long as we don't succumb to fear and hate. We'd do well to keep Dr. King's words of nonviolence in our minds and in our hearts.

Today's Cheyenne march for Dr. King begins at noon at the Depot Plaza downtown. It concludes at the Capitol Building. Following the event, Love & Charity Inc. will serve chicken noodle soup at Allen Chapel, 917 W. 21st. Weather forecast: This morning's weird torrential rains have given way to sunshine. Wind still blowing, but what else is new?

Jim Hightower has a few gift suggestions

Jim Hightower offers ideas on SPECIAL GIFTS FOR IMPORTANT PEOPLE

The Christmas spirit is alive and well with my favorite liberal populist writer.

I especially like this one:

And for those teabag Republicans who got elected to Congress by demonizing Obama's universal health care plan as Big Government Socialism – how about a supersized box of political integrity? Since you oppose providing health coverage to everyone, surely you intend to include yourself by refusing to accept the socialized health care that you Congress critters get from us taxpayers. Take a dose of integrity, and you'll feel much better in the morning.

Skip the holiday stuff, buy a goat (or a cow)

Ideas from Sojourners and CRWRC about alternative gift-giving for the holidays: http://www.crwrc.org/pages/crwrc_giftcatalog.cfm?utm_source=Sojourners%2BAd&utm_medium=banner&utm_campaign=Sojo