Conservatives are hateful neo confederate bigots who will slaughter anyone who has a skin tone a shade darker than theirs and has opposing beleifs.

Isn't Robert Byrd a Democrat?

I share your lack of enthusiasm (to put it mildly) for conservatives as a whole, but Martin Luther King was not dispensed of for his skin tone. He certainly was not the only black man in the area that night in Memphis. While there can obviously be no doubt that race played a role, the more significant truth lies in your second stipulation: opposing beliefs. Again, I doubt due to his differing beliefs alone, was he assassinated, because many more besides him shared similar beliefs, yet they lived on. It is my contention that his death was contracted to protect those who held the same despicable goals as the powers that control our government even as we speak. It is funny you bring this specific instance up at a time like this, where we are involved in an unjust war overseas and are also facing breeches of civil liberties within the confines of our own soil.

The FBI began wiretapping King in 1961, fearing that communists were trying to infiltrate the Civil Rights Movement, but when no such evidence emerged, the bureau used the incidental details caught on tape over six years in attempts to force King out of his pre-eminent leadership position.

This demonstrates an exact reason the Patriot Act poses such a strong threat to our freedoms and the codes that we have held sacred since our country’s inception. They clearly abused the power to spy on citizens to serve their own agendas in that instance, and what EVERYONE needs to realize, is there is nothing to prevent that trend from continuing now. On the contrary it is more available now, than ever, to be done with the passing and re-passing of the Patriot Act.

King knew the threat he embodied to the “powers that be”, and was prepared to face the consequences, however unfair, to improve society for the sake of the people. In his mountain top speech, made only one day before his untimely demise, he prophetically proclaimed:

“It really doesn't matter what happens now.... some began to... talk about the threats that were out -- what would happen to me from some of our sick white brothers.... 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. And so I'm happy tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man.”

Less than a week after King’s death, President Johnson declared a national day of mourning for the lost civil rights leader. A crowd of 300,000 attended his funeral that same day. Vice-President Hubert Humphrey attended on behalf of LBJ, who was meeting with several advisors and cabinet officers on the Vietnam War. LBJ is Bush. Vietnam is “the War on Terror”. Communists are Terrorists. LBJ did not care about King dying, and he may even have played a role in it, just as Bush may have played a role in 9/11. We are allowing a systematic regression rather than fighting to maintain progression. It is our duty to make a concious effort to seek truth, when we are fed lies. To sit contently and munch on deception, is the most vile of acts. It diminishes the significance of every man who came before you, and made personal sacrafices to ensure a better life for all people.

If anyone reads this, I ask only one thing of you. Read, ask, learn. Not for school, but for your own knowledge, research before forming an opinion on anything seemingly important. There are far too many people out there who make their best effort to form our opinions for us, so stick it to them and form it yourself. Remember that reading actually had not become boring until this century. Before that, people understood its importance and yearned for more texts they did not have the capability of acquiring. We are now blessed with something unfathomably amazing, in the internet. True, there are many ridiculous or downright skewed things we could end up reading, and we should be careful to discern and avoid such things, but the wealth of legitmate knowledge at our fingertips is awe-inspiring. This may sound cheesy now, but I am just asking you, if you are like I have long been ( a product of this society ) and you find it difficult to be reading motivated, then reevaluate it. The sooner you realize nothing is more fulfilling than knowledge attained, the sooner you can aid in the endeavor to reform our polity.