Letters to the Editor
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Cease and desist!
We need to stop this immediately and concentrate on how much Joe Lieberman sucks. Remember it doesn't matter that the Republicans win, it's that we lose.
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Oops... I messed up my point
To those who replied to my letter. I was aware that Allen's speech was in southern Virginia. I didn't proofread carefully. Anyway, I stand by my main point.
This "real America" BS never fails to get me going. We live in a diverse nation. New York, San Francisco, Boston, and Chicago are all uniquely American cities. I don't know who came up with the idea that white rural areas are more "real" than the rest of the nation or why it is accepted uncritically. They are part of this nation, but no more or less than anywhere else.
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Monkey Business
In Micael Scherer's article about George Allen using the slur word "macaca," he states that Allen's hubris will eventually catch up to him as it did for candidate Gary Hart:
"It is a system that undid Gary Hart in 1987, when he was caught with a 29-year-old blonde, Donna Rice, walking into his Washington townhouse amid rampant rumors of his infidelity."
My recollection is that Gary Hart was undone when he was photographed by a Miami Herald reporter/photographer aboard a yacht in Biscayne Bay with Donna Rice (then a resident of Miami) and not when she walked into his Washington, DC townhouse. Coincidentally, the name of the yacht was "Monkey Business," which would have been a good title for Scherer's article.
Byron B. Mathews, Jr.
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For Ebonius: About those dumb Americans
Your letter reminds me of this anecdote about Adlai Stevenson:
It was alleged that during one of Stevenson's presidential campaigns, a supporter told him that he was sure to "get the vote of every thinking man" in America, to which Stevenson is said to have replied, "Thank you, but I need a majority to win."
But surely it’s different now in 2006? After all, “There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again!”
Uh-oh.
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Kentucky as a bastion of the Confederacy
I do not disagree with the content of the article beyond the point where the author states that Kentucky was a bastion of the Confederacy.
Kentucky remained neutral in the Civil War allowing troops from neither the Confederate States nor the Union to enter the borders. Kentucky remained in the Union though as a border state citizens joined both the Confederacy and the Union armies.
I present the following excerpt from Wikipedia:
Kentucky did not secede; for a time it declared itself neutral. However, the Confederates broke the neutrality by seizing Columbus in September 1861. That turned opinion against the Confederacy, and the state reaffirmed its loyal status, while trying to maintain slavery. During a brief invasion by Confederate forces, Confederate sympathizers organized a secession convention, inaugurated a governor, and gained recognition from the Confederacy. The rebel government soon went into exile and never controlled the state.
I would not call a state that in the end fought against the Confederacy and had so many Union Divisions and Cavalry Regiments sponsored by the state a "Confederate Bastion".
Please correct this oversight.
Kind regards,
William Paris
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COmmon Virginia Middle Class Upbringing
I'm from southern Virginia, an ex-neocon, ex-Christian, ex- racist...8 out of ten people I have more than a passing acquaintance with are closet racists...and raise their kids that way...just like I did 15 years ago...
Since then, I observed my own behavior carefully after a devastating divorce and faced the truth about myself - racism NOT being an issue I was exploring – never-the-less it was one of my obvious Scrpts I needed to address as I was raised a racist and raised my own children with mixed and hypocritical racist messages...(as well as political and religious Dogma - luckily they don't seem to have picked up much of it...I think they realized before I did I was a bigot...I have since discussed many of these neocon/Limbaugh beliefs with all of my children - and hope they recognized the truth about themselves - and empathy for all forms of life and appreciation for their chance to ponder our existence...
Sadly, when I discuss these issues with my co-workers and previously with my Sunday school classmates... their attitude was often how wonderful it was that I was so open-minded...expressed with averted eye rolls and knowing grins...my coworkers write shitty remarks on my memo board in my office which contains balanced info on the Arab Israeli mess... class issues such as health insurance, and articles about pregnancy, homelessness, etc...
I'm now soft - a pussy - all those fucking welfare Moms, and kids, and homeless, and uninsured should just get a job - or die - if they can't take care of themselves we’d all be better off if they were dead...and 40% of them listen to Rush Limbaugh and think he is the new messiah...hypocrisy be damned.
Our governments treatment of all people, upper middle-class and below, American or foreign is emblematic of these deep-seated prejudices.
This of course is obvious to all but the Southern Baptist neocon …whom happen to be maniacally motivated to cleans the earth of sinners - politically, financially and through incarceration.
Huggs
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Can we stop using the word "bully?"
Even though it may be the case that Sen. George Allen is a bully, can we on the left stop using that term? I see it used it articles all the time and it has the stench of defeatism on it, dating back to schoolyard accusations of "You big bully!" after some wimpy kid just got whupped. Until liberals, and indeed Democrats get away from this victim mentality, they can't hope to be winning any elections. In many parts of the country, being the "alpha jock male" is not seen as a bad thing, but in fact, what a man is supposed to be: dominant, assertive and, yes, winning. Using the term "bully" says as much about the speaker as the subject, connoting somebody who gets pushed around a lot and is trying to get a few kids on his side instead of just pushing back. Until Democrats assume a leadership stance, the electorate is not going to put them in a leadership position. Everything you need to know about life is played out in high school.
Fortuntely, Democratic challenger Jim Webb is not like that. When draft-dodging Allen questioned Webb's patriotism, he tore into him with righteous indignation, the way he should have, calling his comments "weak-kneed attacks by cowards."
Now that's some language you can really sink your teeth into.