Do you have any special thoughts on this day?


Today I was thinking about a Clarence Jones, >>CLICKY<<.

I know Clarence thru my best friend who was friend Clarance's son drug-addicted son, a person who has had the "honor" of being of the very few people ever permitted to be in my apartment, who last I heard was living somewhere in Alaska with a white-trash drug addict girlfriend.

Clarence was MLK's lawyer and, so if you've seen documentaries on MLK, you've likely seen him without noticing. He's also in quite a few documentaries on Malcolm X since he appears to have been the main conduit between these two men.

He's a man I'm proud to know. A man I almost went into business with [thru/with my best friend]. I recall fondly the conversations over dinner with topics that spanned the spectrum. He regards me as a conservative, and at times we have disagreed strongly on issues, but our parting has always ending with a heartfelt hug.

He is a man, who though illegally spied upon my the FBI, who though called a traitor and tossed by the army for his leftist roots, always displayed deep love for this country.

I wonder what he's thinking today.


And, I wonder how Frederick Douglass, a man I have as a hero, would feel today. I think about it as I re-read his words from a July 4th more than 150 years ago. And, I wonder what profound words he would find for this occassion.

Douglass' famed July 4th speech


I haven't seen Clarence since in the winter of 2004, before this dreaded illness had be withdraw from mankind. He asked about me last year, but I had just gotten out of the hospital, so I passed on meeting up.

Maybe I'll touch base.

Well, to be honest I have been thinking that after the Bush tax cuts expire my mutual funds' qualified dividends will be taxed at ordinary income rate instead of only 15%. That will cost me a couple of grand that could've gone towards buying some of the fine products from JM Productions.