Scott Whitlock mentioned yesterday that liberal author Jack Huberman claimed in 2006 that Rush Limbaugh praised James Earl Ray, the convicted assassin of Martin Luther King. How would this reckless, unproven charge circulate?

Black sports columnists love it: Jason Whitlock, on Foxsports.com is using it right now in saying the NFL should not allow Limbaugh to be part-owner of the St. Louis Rams. But does he have a footnote with an air date? No.

When I did a Nexis search for Limbaugh and James Earl Ray, I couldn't find a single use of this so-called quotation until this March. Consider the source: Jarvis Tyner, executive vice chair of the Communist Party USA. He doesn't have a footnote either:

Limbaugh is a racist. He is the radio personality that said that Martin Luther King’s assassin James Earl Ray should get the Medal of Honor!

NewsBusters readers are likely familiar with Jason Whitlock, the outspoken sportswriter for the Kansas City Star whose views on race relations in America typically go quite contrary to most in the mainstream media.

On Wednesday, Whitlock wrote an article for Fox Sports.com concerning the recent shooting of Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor.

True to form, Whitlock spoke of truths few press representatives and even fewer black leaders dare to today (emphasis added, h/t Larwyn, reader is cautioned that some of the language is a tad raw at times):

In the midst of the media's typically one-sided view of Thursday's civil rights protests in Jena, Louisiana, Jason Whitlock, the black sportswriter who called Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton terrorists during April's Don Imus controversy, penned an op-ed in the Kansas City Star that should be must-reading for all Americans.

Entitled "Lessons From Jena, LA," Whitlock's piece marvelously exposed a side of this story that mainstream media outlets, as well as folks like Jackson and Sharpton, want to desperately withhold from the public in order to provoke racial tension rather than reduce it.

After a wonderful introduction, Whitlock got down to business (emphasis added throughout, h/t NB reader Thomas Rosenbrook):

The National Football League has finally acted, suspending former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick indefinitely without pay in the wake of Vick admitting that he was the primary funding behind the dog-fighting operation run from his property. The question now is- what will the NAACP and Vick's media enablers do?