I thought non-violence was something else completely

Potential candidate for New York Senator, Tennessee Republican Harold Ford, honored the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday yesterday with some inspiring words:

Mr. Ford spoke about his childhood in Memphis, describing a grandmother who used the extension cords from living room lamps to discipline him and his brother. “I am always amazed when I meet parents who say they can’t get their kids to go to church, ’cause I didn’t know kids had options like that.”

Later, he returned to the subject: “We as a nation need to be disciplined. If there were ever a day in which an electric cord ought to be used on all of us to remind us of what’s good, what’s bad, what’s right and what’s wrong, it’s on the King holiday.”

Because nothing says non-violent protest, the hallmark of King's philosophy, like an electrical cord whipping across the ass.