Titanic Post

George Washington, 57, elected the first president of the United States by a unanimous vote of the electoral college, takes the oath of office at Federal Hall in New York City, April 30, 1789. In his inaugural address—which he reads, appearing “agitated and embarrassed” by one account— he tells Congress to look to the Constitution for their priorities and to consider the public good when altering it, as the “sacred fire of liberty” depends on American democracy. After two terms, he refuses a third and leaves office in 1797.

Recently, Dawn Provencher, Educator, County Chair of the Democratic Party,  wrote a letter to the editor quoting words spoken at an actual event where people were actually cursed at and spit upon by despicable people because they objected to health care reform and the person who made it happen.

In the lead up to the vote on health care, racist Tea Party protesters were spitting on and shouting the N-word at Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), an African-American lawmaker, while Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) was spat on and slurred for being a homosexual.

Dawn did the right thing by reminding the readers of this newspaper that such historically charged and damaging epitaphs should not go unchallenged.  She did the right thing by reminding us all of why these words should never be spoken in anger or used to belittle other human beings.  She did the right thing by writing those words, and you did the right thing by printing them, because everyone should know that we as a community will not tolerate words that diminish the dignity of human being.

A media that is over-protective of its consumers by censoring certain words is not doing us a favor.  These words remind us that part of our society is still living in the past and may act again as they did in the past.  We don’t need protecting from words and ideas; we need to deal with the emotions that cause those words to be spoken.  These are Democratic values.

Originally published in the Alamogordo Daily News sometime in March of 2010.

In reply to Don Omey’s well written letter to the editor of the Alamogordo Daily News of May 2nd,  2010.  Published May 19, 2010.  I would like to make a few comments.

First, with a few exceptions, I agree and support the mission statement of the Otero Tea Party Patriots. What American wouldn’t want to “preserve the spirit of the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights”, and want “limited [but adequate] government, [smart] spending, [equitable] taxation, advancing a [smartly] regulated market economy, holding elected officials accountable for their decisions and having them be responsive to their constituents.”?  Also, your objectives of educating the public on these issues, and teaching the public how to become citizen lobbyists are commendable.

My concern is that your education of the public and teaching the public how to become citizen lobbyists is not in the interest of American citizens but rather for the interests of your financial backers: Americans for Prosperity and Freedom Works, the principal organizers of the Tea Party Patriots movement and the Tea Party Express. These two lobbyist-run think tanks are well funded and provide the logistics and organizing for the Tea Party movement from coast to coast. The Tea Party Patriots is not a grass roots populist organization, but a top down astro-turf temple to conservative interests. Read the rest of this entry →

Anna Jarvis, the founder of Mother’s Day, hated flowers, candy, and greeting cards. Our kind of mom!

By Mary Beth Crain

SOMA – Published in the Society Of  Mutual Autopsy

I’ve been trying to think of what I could give my 89-year-old mom for Mother’s Day. Flowers and candy seem just too trite. So do those distinctly unoriginal Mother’s Day cards with the flowers and butterflies and syrupy verse.

Little did I know that the founder of Mother’s Day, Anna Jarvis, shared my sentiments exactly. Read the rest of this entry →