Monday, January 16, 2006

Tapping King

Hard to believe, but it's true.

Federal agents operating without a warrant bugged the phones and offices of the Rev. Martin Luther King , Jr. with the approval of a Democratic administration.

Nicholas Deb. Katzenbach, who served in senior Justice Department roles under presidents Kennedy and Johnson, discusses the decision at length in the LA Times.

Katzenbach tries weakly to justify the taps, but when you read the intent of the FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and of the dirty tricks that followed, it's hard to swallow any justification.

I mean, it's not like the guy was talking to terrorists or something.

Happy MLK Day -- a visionary and a geniune, if personally flawed, American hero. I always liked that part in his "I have a dream" speech about judging someone by the content of his character, not the color of his skin.

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