Letters to the Editor
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Kudos to Garrison!
Bravo to Garrison! I'm a longtime, but occasional, listener to Keillor's radio show, grew up in San Francisco, and worked as an artist and musician there until the late '70's. I loved the place, loved the people, loved the free and liberal attitudes, and have always yearned to go back. My wife and I got frozen in careers here on the East Coast, but would re-locate in a minute.
Keillor is one of the few public personalities who can write well enough to speak for a whole generation, the great bulge of the baby-boomers, and who has the courage to deftly expose the cheap meaness of the Bush administration and its operatives in the Congress. Nancy Pelosi is a tough cookie. Let's support her well. I hope she has the support of gay people all over the country, and serious support at that.
Now if we can only hook Garrison up with Al Gore and Bill Gates, we might have a movement with some juice!
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I've often thought we should just take all the marbles...
Garrison Keillor hits nicely on a point I've thought several times during the past few benighted years: we on the coasts should just give in, take the marbles and go home.
We split off, we allow a faith-based state to exist, wherever the locals want it. A referendum! Bye bye! Then we keep making all our cool stuff, have nice parties and enjoy ourselves. And after a couple of years, we say "I'm sorry, the next version of Windows/the Mac/your medical scanner/the software to run your cars is not available to you. Write your own, using faith-based methodologies and all the engineers you can find who dont worry about the inconsistencies between science and a state-imposed religion.
Stay In Touch and Good luck! Love, Your Liberal Friends"
Joe
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A word from the President of the Institute for Better High School Wrestling Coach Relations (IBHSWCR)
Salon readers, et al.:
I would like to take a moment to address the issue here of high school wrestling coaches. I would just like to say that we are people too, and we hurt. We're not nancy-boys like Keillor and MOST San Franciscans, but listen, everyone. We cry. We feel. We DO know how to grab an opponent by the short and curlies for the win, but we're not gay or anything. We are more than coaches. We are LIFE-coaches. We are teachers. We teach the children to body slam one another, and, afterwards, shower together effusively. It builds character, muscle, and heterosexual attitudes, all of which or boys will need if we are to defeat Al Qaeda. Try that one, nancy-boy Keillor!
Thank you,
Coach Dirk Mitchrock
President, IBHSWCR
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Gratefule Live is totally right!
You libs are too blinded by your hatred of AMERICA to see that the it's the hard-working farmers and wrestling coaches in the heartland who made this country great! Why not just admit it: if it weren't for the sacrifices of our brave men and women in unitards, you wouldn't have the freedom to sip your lattes while you read your "books" and worry about your "health"!!! You leftie snobs should try being gratefule!
Ah, yes. The wrestling coach. Salt of the earth. Favorite subject of Norman Rockwell and Will Rogers alike.
You're awesome, Gratefule Live. You have officially made a parody of yourself. Thanks for that.
While you're sneering at us progressive liberals for our supposed elitism, maybe ask yourself why we're always trying to get a better deal for working people. Why we care about little things like a living wage, affordable health care, decent public schools, pollution controls, mine safety, the whole middle class, etc., etc., etc. No answer? Keep listening -- maybe Hannity will give you one.
Oh, and one more thing: We have wrestling coaches in San Francisco, too, genius -- GAY ones!!
Sweet dreams...
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i can't believe...
...that the majority of the letters in response to this thoughtful, dead-on article have to do with keillor's "bashing" of high school wrestling coaches. either you folks are missing the point, or you're very clear what the point is and are trying to, with all your might, knock down this straw man.
if any of you had listened to the debate that went on in the senate recently, you would have found many a legislator saying far worse things about far more categories of people. hastert was a high school wrestling coach, by the way. keillor wasn't plucking that constituency out of thin air. you focusing on his wrestling coach line is like the republicans focusing on gay marriage when there are plenty of other pink elephants [no pun intended] in the room.
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Actions vs. Words
Right on Mr. K.
I've lived in the East and Midwest and I now live in SF. I've traveled all over the US and I have this to say about where innovation and creativity thrives.
Most places I've been, all anybody sees is the tax benefits from the high-wage workers that a place like Silicon Valley brings in. They're all for that.
Then ask them if they mind if the Geeks, Freaks, Gays, and Hippies that will bring them this high tax-base live next door to them and the answer is almost universally "no".
There's a reason that nobody else in the US or in the world has managed to recreate Silicon Valley and that's because nobody else out there REALLY wants to.
They want the $$$, but they don't want to run into them at the grocery store or have their kids go to the same school as theirs do.
Pick your players: Dakotan Wrestling Coaches vs. San Francisco Discophiles or whatever, let's keep in mind what the stakes actually are:
Intelligence or Ignorance
Tolerance & Acceptance or Bigotry & Hatred
Innovation or Stagnation
Advancement & Progress or Fear & Hiding.
Alabama can posture all they want to, but the truth is that California STILL fixes their highways and we STILL pay for their kids public school lunches because they insist on choosing the right side of the "or" up there.
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oh, roadknight!
stereotyping red-staters as all ignorant is just as irresponsible as implying that californians are all educated do-gooders.
my aunt is from san francisco and she's an educated liberal. and an idiot. should i thank her for building alabama a road?