by Shannon Williams

Does this not seem like the absolute worst possible time for anyone to be president of the United States? I mean, wow. First there was the seemingly never-ending health care debate, then there was the whole race thing, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and now there’s so much hoopla over recent comments President Barack Obama made regarding the possibility of a mosque and community center to be built near Ground Zero in New York City.

Dear Dr. King,

There will be a march this Saturday to commemorate the 47th anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Actually, there will be two marches, with leaders of each claiming to be walking in your footsteps.

The march being led by Al Sharpton is the only one with any legitimacy. Sharpton was mentored by Jesse Jackson similar to the way you mentored Jesse. Sharpton is being joined by Marc Morial, the president and CEO of the National Urban League; Benjamin Jealous, the head of the NAACP, and your oldest son, Martin Luther King III. You would be proud of all of them. You’d be especially proud because they are refusing to let Glenn Beck, an ultra-conservative talk show host, hijack your memory.

The other night I ran into a son of Mal Goode, who was one of my heroes. There are some people who had such an impact on our lives that they will always be alive.

We decided to have a beer and the conversation came up about our love and appreciation for our fathers, and during the conversation we began to reflect on those who felt the same way as we did. I realized that the privilege of writing a column afforded me an opportunity that the average person did not have, and that is why the spaces are in the caption so that the readers can insert their daddy’s names.

(REAL TIMES MEDIA)—Last week Dr. Laura Schlessinger, a formerly relevant and influential radio talk show host, announced her retirement after 30 years on the air on “Larry King Live,” a formerly relevant night time cable talk show.

Dr. Laura, whose star power had faded so much that the only place she could book for her retirement announcement was the soon-to-be-cancelled “Larry King Live,” claimed that she was leaving her show due to the controversy and criticism surrounding her after using the N-word 11 times in talking to a caller the previous week. But don’t be fooled, Dr. Laura was leaving radio on her own terms—she tried to pull a “Rush Limbaugh,” it just didn’t work out the way she planned.