Harold Titus's Blog, page 7

Letters, 2009, Ticked Off, Febrruary 27, March 11, April 14, May 22

My two-year term as chair of the Florence Area Democratic Club ended December 31, 2008. I had put a lot of energy into performing the job and fully intended not to continue. Nobody indicated that he or she wanted the job. I urged, I cajoled. Reluctantly, one person relented. Another person, a former chair and good friend, volunteered. So we had two. The co-chairs clashed, and the former chair dropped out. The remaining chair resigned in May. Nobody had taken the job of vice chair. Who then would serve? Keep the club going? I had taken on the job of club treasurer. All right, I thought. I’ll stay on as treasurer and be the chair for the remaining year and a half.

Barack Obama was inaugurated President January 20. His initial executive branch appointments surprised many liberals, who had judged Obama to be as liberal as they. One friend of mine, who had enthusiastically canvassed his neighborhood for Obama’s election, was aghast that the new President had appointed Timothy Geithner his Secretary of the Treasury and Larry Summers as the head of the National Economic Council (NEC).

A December 8, 2008, article in Politico expressed early on my friend’s disillusionment. Here are some excerpts.

***

Liberals are growing increasingly nervous – and some just flat-out angry – that President-elect Barack Obama seems to be stiffing them on Cabinet jobs and policy choices.
Obama has reversed pledges to immediately repeal tax cuts for the wealthy and take on Big Oil. He’s hedged his call for a quick drawdown in Iraq. And he’s stocking his White House with anything but stalwarts of the left.

Now some are shedding a reluctance to puncture the liberal euphoria at being rid of President George W. Bush to say, in effect, that the new boss looks like the old boss.
…

Now Obama’s says that on his first day in office he will begin to “design a plan for a responsible drawdown,” as he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday. Obama has also filled his national security positions with supporters of the Iraq war: Sen. Hillary Clinton, who voted to authorize force in Iraq, as his secretary of state; and President George W. Bush’s defense secretary, Robert Gates, continuing in the same role.

…

Now it’s Obama’s Cabinet moves that are drawing the most fire. It’s not just that he’s picked Clinton and Gates. It’s that liberal Democrats say they’re hard-pressed to find one of their own on Obama’s team so far – particularly on the economic side, where people like Tim Geithner and Lawrence Summers are hardly viewed as pro-labor.

…

Obama has told his supporters to look beyond his appointments, that the change he promised will come from him and that when his administration comes together they will be happy.

…

New York Times columnist Frank Rich warned that Obama’s economic team of Summers and Geithner reminded him of John F. Kennedy’s “best and the brightest” team, who blundered in Vietnam despite their blue-chip pedigrees.

David Corn, Washington bureau chief of the liberal magazine Mother Jones, wrote in Sunday’s Washington Post that he is “not yet reaching for a pitchfork” (Lee and Henderson 1-3).

Work cited:

Lee, Carol E. and Henderson, Nia-Malika. “Liberals Voice Concerns about Obama.” Politico, December 8, 2008. Net. https://www.politico.com/story/2008/1...

***

For awhile my anger remained directed mostly at Republican politicians and their donors, large corporations.

***

“Liberalism is our problem. Liberalism is what’s got us dangerously close to the precipice.” – Rush Limbaugh

At the Lane County Board of Directors meeting in Florence Feb. 17, Mayor Brubaker and perennial state legislator-candidate Al Pearn, backed by seated hard case conservatives, blistered the commissioners’ ears about the necessity of jails, prisons, and beefed-up law enforcement. How ironic, our sorry state of economic affairs being the consequence of conservative tax policy, union busting, out-sourcing of jobs, and laissez-faire capitalism.

The Peanut Butter Corp. of America’s processing plant in Georgia sends out self-tested, salmonella-tainted food products to distributors.

A company in Portland dumps chromium in the city sewer system 61 times.

Exxon-Mobil finances pseudo-scientists to muddle our perception of global warming.

Corporate “economic hit men” deliver to leaders of third-world countries having rich natural resources a proposition: accept this massive loan from the World Bank, ostensibly to finance a beneficial infrastructure project but actually to fill the coffers of the U.S. corporate contractor (with a tidy sum siphoned to you and cronies). When your country defaults, we’ll take your oil and/or build a U.S. military base or maybe just extract a political favor. Otherwise, … did you know that presidential planes have been known to fly into mountains?

In this conservative-protected ultra capitalistic country, crimes involving corporate avarice are seldom punished.

Printed February 27, 2009, in the
Register-Guard

***

Lucius Gent called me to congratulate me shortly after he had read my letter in the paper. The next day an 80-year-old man called from Eugene while I was using the treadmill downstairs. He wanted to know if I was related to a Harold Titus in Marcola. People my generation know what the country was like before Reagan in 1981.

Next, I directed my wrath at Republican tax policy, economic fall out, and how difficult it is to pass a local school district tax levy. A letter written by a local hardliner, James Fox, spurred me to vent.

***

“Once more, we will hear the pathetic cry, ‘We must educate our children.’

“This isn’t about education. It’s about continuing to provide extravagant salary and fringe benefit packages to government employees that far exceed what private sector workers will ever see.” -- M. James Fox (Letters, March 4)

Conservatives like Mr. Fox wrapped in the ideology of “individual responsibility” and “government is the enemy” have cost this community, county, state, and nation dearly.

Our local school levy was defeated last November not because citizens disbelieved that our schools were in dire straits but because they determined they were too poor to share what never should have become their burden.

Conservative tax policy, federal and state; the outsourcing of good-paying jobs; union busting; and laissez-faire capitalism have impoverished us.

Consider our unfair state tax system. Our school districts are funded mostly by personal income tax revenue taken from the General Fund. We who work standing up pay the same marginal tax rate (9%) as millionaire Throckmorton T. Pennington, Esq., Dunes City

Corporations pay next to nothing (16% of all state income tax revenue thirty years ago; 6% now). Two-thirds of C-corporations pay the paltry $10 corporate minimum.

Years ago conservative legislators and a deluded public, persuaded that liberals were out to empty all wallets, put into the state constitution the stipulation that tax increases must attain at least a 60% House majority – a nearly impossible hurdle.

Empathy. Social responsibility. Becoming more than the sum of our parts. Yes, “We must educate our children,” despite the diatribes of conspicuous moat-around-the-castle scrooges.

Printed March 11, 2009, in the Siuslaw News

***

The following letter brought up the tired GOP talking point that people in poverty have only themselves to blame for their sorry state of existence.

***

Congratulations to Phil Weaver, Carol Van Houten, et al. (letters, April 7) for identifying yet another group of victims in America – poor people who have no option except to serve in our voluntary military – and at the same time insulting everyone who has served honorably or is proudly serving in the U.S. military.

If some young men and women feel they are forced to consider this option because of the lack of jobs, it is largely their fault. Perhaps they should have taken school more seriously, set some goals, made better choices, taken advantage of mentoring opportunities or made an effort to acquire skills that would have secured them a decent job.

People in this country are entitled to an opportunity. They are not entitled to results. Results come from planning, hard work, dedication, tenacity, good decisions and, dare I suggest, the disappearing concept of delayed gratification. Actually, this can be stated very simply – you reap what you sow.

Unless we stamp out this victim entitlement mentality that is becoming so pervasive in our country and rewarded by many groups, our culture will continue to self-destruct. Additionally, the U.S. military happens to provide excellent training for many who may have missed or ignored opportunities earlier in their lives.

Karen Bednarski
Printed April 14, 2009, in the Register-Guard

***

Here was my response.

***

Karen Bednarski’s defense (letters, April 14) of Rush Limbaugh’s “victim entitlement mentality” hogwash is offensive.

She and I agree on one statement only: “People in this country are entitled to an opportunity.” Thereafter, we swiftly separate.

Given today’s economy, saying, “You reap what you sow” is simplicity personified. North Carolina laid-off textile mill workers/parents take note: “If some young men and women … are forced to” join the military “because of the lack of jobs, it is largely their fault.” Ergo, high school student, apply yourself. Jobless civil engineers have got Home Depot covered. Competition for that Dairy Queen job will be tough.

Veterans and active duty service people, we, like the letter writer, value your honorable, brave accomplishments. We who have not experienced combat cannot fathom the responsibility or circumstance. That said, let’s be frank. The armed services must train our young men and women to be killers. When and why they are utilized, therefore, is critical! Using them to start and sustain empire wars, wars of aggression, is tragic. Back-door drafting jobless youths to volunteer to fight such wars is despicable.

Greed and aggrandizement of power generate victims. Ronald Reagan popularized the doctrine of “individual responsibility,” a dressed-up cover of: “I’ve got mine. Go Cheney yourself.” Have we finally learned our lesson?

Printed April 22, 2009, in the Register-Guard

Letters, 2008, Campaigning, May 10, June 28, September 17, October 25

It was April. Oregon would soon have its primary election. I was going from house to house of registered Democrats and people that had declared themselves “Non-Affiliated” to record whom each individual preferred to be the Democratic Party’s choice to become the party’s nominee for President. I was startled to see so many Obama lawn signs displayed. I discovered not long afterward that a young advocate for Obama from Eugene was working for his campaign independent of the Florence Area Democratic Club. I was canvassing for all Democratic candidates running for political office. She was focused solely on Obama. We would meet and discuss joining forces after Obama won the Oregon primary.

***

I began my letter-writing for Obama in May.

***

Exploiting idealistic young enlisted men like Karen Mitchell’s son (letters, April 29), George Bush lied us into invading Iraq, creating thusly a war that is indeed “a grievous offense against our troops and the Iraqi people,” the worst of numerous wrongdoings he and his cronies have inflicted on “we, the people.”

Now we have the prime opportunity to “right the ship.”

Not able to square with most Americans its selfish policies, to win elections the Republican Party must vigorously malign all opposition. Because so many Americans have little time, energy, or inclination to research issues and candidates and corporate-owned mainstream media’s purpose is to provide entertaining controversy, not honest, in-depth reporting, Karl Rove’s Right, employing emotion-laden, short-cut justifications, has persuaded susceptible voters to vote against their economic interests. Hence the GOP’s recent focus on flag lapel pins not worn, Muslim middle names, hands not positioned over hearts, irate ministers, and Weathermen bombers.

Who should be our next president: the tolerant, young idealist that will reverse the disastrous, foul direction this country has taken or the pandering, befuddled codger that insists we must prolong it? As always, the Right will frame the choice this way: moral, tax-cutting, common sense-deciding, heroic, authoritarian defender of freedom or immoral, dishonest, defeatist, budget-busting, weak-kneed, elitist socialist.

This time we need to wise up.

Printed May 10, 2008, in the Register-Guard

***

The Republican Party disenfranchisement tactics used in the 2000 and 2004 Presidential elections and the chicanery that occurred in Ohio in 2004, never officially investigated, had me convinced that Obama had to win big to overcome the substantial handicaps that would surely be placed upon him. I felt I had to warn the reading public of the impending peril.

***

Five years ago July 1 the Register-Guard printed a letter of mine that at its end posed the question, “Does it bother you that President Bush … very much resembles Napoleon of George Orwell’s Animal Farm …?”

A critical reader, responding (July 17) that the comparison was “absurd,” wrote that America “enjoys peaceful transfers of power on a regular basis” and “with our numerous checks and balances, a sound structure is in place that makes it very difficult for one individual … to become a dictator.”

My letter’s purpose had been to emphasize Bush’s extreme duplicity. Since then numerous administration crimes and one stolen presidential election have transpired. What I had not intended with my comparison now appears to be well within the realm of possibility.

Author Mark Crispin Miller certainly thinks so. In a recent interview Miller said he believes that if McCain is within 10 percentage points of Obama this November, the GOP will try to steal the election. “They can’t afford to give up power because they are extremely vulnerable to prosecution on many fronts.” If McCain isn’t within 10 points, “they’re going to have to do something else. … This regime has lately been taking some very serious steps in the direction of martial law.”

Ridiculous! Absurd! you say. Why, they would be going against the will of the American people!

Dick Cheney has already said it. “So?”

Printed June 28, 2008, in the Register-Guard

***

I was campaigning also for other Democratic candidates. Jim Rassmann hosted a political gathering at a state park south of Florence to enable voters to meet Oregon’s Democratic candidate of the U. S. Senate, Jeff Merkley. I was the last person in line to speak to him individually. I suspect that he had been told by his staff that I was a big cheese, being that I was chair of the local Democratic Club. (Big only in size, truth be told) I remember how intently he engaged me. I had already liked him. He had been an effective speaker of the Oregon House. Our values coincided. He seemed genuine. Therefore, I wanted to write a letter of support, focusing on information about his opponent that was not widely known.

***

You will be hearing plenty about how Oregon’s Republican Senator Gordon Smith has voted with President Bush 90% of the time, how he has cancelled out 94% of Ron Wyden’s cloture votes, and how he voted more than 20 times to authorize and fund the Iraq War. There are plenty of examples that debunk the image he wants to project that he is a moderate, independent-acting Republican.

One especially abhorrent to me was a vote he cast in 2006 that would have punished tip workers in Oregon and six other states. These states do not allow employers to count the tips that their workers receive as part of their state minimum wage income. Most Oregon waitresses in 2006 were paid the state minimum wage, $7.50 an hour. What they received in tips was extra income. In states like Alabama, however, an employer was able to pay his worker $2.13 an hour, figuring that the tips she got brought her income up to the minimum wage level. Senator Smith wanted that to happen here.

The next time a waitress greets you at the Olive Garden or a maid cleans your room at Best Western, remember whose interests Gordon Smith represents.

Send Jeff Merkley to the Senate.

Printed July 19, 2008, in the Siuslaw News

***

Since 2000 I have found it exceedingly hard to feel optimistic about any Presidential election. Obama seemed up against so much bullshit. This state of mind led me to write the following letter.

***

“When exactly was it that the U.S. became a can’t-do society?” New York Times columnist Bob Herbert recently asked
.
When the Supreme Court ruled that corporations had the rights of citizenship.

When the interests of industry and the Pentagon merged.

When Ronald Reagan convinced too many voters that government was their enemy, not their ally.

When our elected officials placed corporate benefit above the needs of their constituents.

When the GOP became the party of borrow and spend.

When businesses and jobs went to foreign countries.

When mainstream radio, TV, and the print media became corporate owned.

When the GOP learned it could steal state and national elections with impunity.

When the administration of justice became the exercise of power politics.

When American foreign policy became the quest for military and economic dominance.

When we became too fearful of change, too hateful of designated enemies, too desirous of wanting to feel safe.

Printed August 9, 2008, in the Register-Guard

***

There was also a local school tax levy to support. Republicans are notorious for defeating any tax increase regardless of its need. I wanted to draw upon my experience as a teacher to motivate the levy’s passage.

***

Tie Kobe Bryant’s right arm behind his back and he ceases to be a special basketball player. Remove the tools that an excellent teacher utilizes and he becomes a mediocre instructor.

I taught English to eighth grade students for 32 years. Teaching young minds personal pronoun usage or the use and placement in sentences of noun, pronoun, and verb modifiers was a challenge.

Teachers have to be problem solvers. Given the right tools to experiment, they can do that. What kept me from being a “blackboard, textbook” English teacher were reams of copy paper and the use of a copying machine.

How did I get students to enjoy learning how to punctuate narration and dialogue? I used their names in silly sentences. The class hero talked like a sissy. The politest girl in the class said and did outrageous things. How did I motivate students to write sharp sensory detail in narrative sentences? I gave them something interesting to observe, typed up their best sentences, ran them off the copying machine the next morning, and that day had them vote which sensory images were best and explain why.

The lesson here is that district supplies matter, much more than the general public might think. Support our children and teachers. Vote for passage of the local option tax levy this November.

Printed September 17, 2008, in the Siuslaw News

***

I sent the following draft letter out to various people asking if they wanted to use, revise, and submit it to the Siuslaw News editor. I had had a lot of letters printed recently by the paper and believed that another letter that I might submit would not be accepted.

***

The time has come for caring people to repair the enormous damage conservative/corporate governance has done to America.

We have important candidates to elect, and, mind you, we have a vital five-year temporary school district tax levy to act upon. Can you handle a tax increase of $0.95 per $1,000 of your property’s assessed value? That would be $285 annually if your property value is assessed at $300,000 and half that if the value is $150,000.

Our school district has cut $3,464,110 from its biennial budgets since 2003. If the levy is rejected, the district will need to cut approximately $1.2 million from its 2009-2010 budget.

What has caused this shortfall in school funding? A lousy economy. Low-paying jobs. Stagnant wages. The state legislature’s inability to change income tax rates, which favor large corporations and wealthy individuals.

People that hate public education will oppose the levy. So will people that can afford to pay for public services but seize upon convenient excuses to justify why they won’t. So, also, will low-income families so strapped by soaring living costs that losing just $12 a month is a burden too great to bear.

People that value community, however, will support this levy. There but for the grace of God go my grandchildren. A good education is an important equalizer. The son of an admiral can dilly dally through the Naval Academy, marry wealth, own eight houses, and run for President the same year the son of an Oregon mill worker runs for the U.S. Senate.

Vote for this levy. And vote for public officials that support policies that will produce good-paying jobs. Only then will the state government be able to allocate to school districts sufficient funds to ensure that our children receive quality instruction.

***

One person did use it. Her September 19 letter made use of the above last three paragraphs.

By October 25, I had canvassed (since May) about 430 houses. I wrote a letter to share observations of the experience.

***

Since May I have canvassed at least 250 houses of independents and Democrats. Here are three things I discovered:

Many people haven’t decided yet how they will vote, especially in the U.S. Senate race. Who is Jeff Merkley? TV does not provide sufficient information. Not enough voters utilize the Internet. Untruths circulate, like “Gordon Smith and Ron Wyden work well together.”

Three-minute ads are effective. “I don’t like either of them,” several people stated.

One Democrat declared that she was all for Jeff Merkley but she’d vote for McCain because Obama “wasn’t experienced.” A non-Democrat said that she was for Smith because of all the office furniture that “Merkley bought.”

Nearly everybody is angry – the war, the lack of health care, the miserable economy, mortgage lending thievery – why wouldn’t they be?

A disabled World War II veteran laced into Bush and McCain for the paltry benefits that the administration doles to ex-servicemen and women.

Most people paraphrased what one person said, that “Bush and his crooks have ruined the country!”

Despite his race, despite the garbage thrown at him, Barack Obama should carry Oregon. The Senate race is up for grabs. One woman told me, “I don’t know who I’ll vote for but I’ll probably vote for the Democrat because I’m a Democrat.”

There is wisdom in that. We know who has brought our country to its knees. McCain and Smith were an integral part of that. Obama and Merkley share our Democratic values, but it isn’t necessary for this election that we know that in detail. Our anger instructs us.

Printed October 25, 2008, in the Siuslaw News

Letters, 2008, Letter Wars, January 2, January 18, January 29

Former Labor Secretary for Bill Clinton, Robert Reich has always been a fountain of wisdom and truth for me. Here are several excerpts of observations he has made that influences what I try to communicate.

***

Readers of The American Prospect don't need to hear that Donald Rumsfeld has been an awful defense secretary, that our actions in Iraq are fueling global terrorism, that George W. Bush's tax breaks for the rich are widening the gap between the rich and everyone else, that our government is now run by corporate America and right-wing evangelicals, and that these clowns and scoundrels have already imperiled our nation and the world for generations to come. You know these things.

Unfortunately, comparatively few Americans read The American Prospect. But tens of millions of Americans listen to right-wing radio and watch right-wing television. And they are being fed a stream of lies that parrot the untruths and distortions emanating from the White House. The public square is dominated by radical Republicans.

Recently I accepted an invitation to be on Sean Hannity's radio show, which is carried by nearly 400 stations around the country. I'm promoting a new book, Reason: Why Liberals Will Win the Battle for America (Alfred A. Knopf). Hannity has been touring the country, broadcasting his right-wing screed in front of large crowds.

On this day, [2004] Hannity was broadcasting from Chicago. I phoned in at the appointed time. Hannity introduced me as a "liberal," and I heard the assembled crowd emit a loud boo. He then asked me if I thought Rumsfeld should resign. I said Rumsfeld should be fired. The crowd booed again. At this point Hannity played a tape, purporting to be the voice of John Kerry, who admitted to committing atrocities in Vietnam. Hannity then asked me how someone who had committed atrocities could call for Rumsfeld's resignation and run for president of the United States. The crowd cheered.

When I began to answer, Hannity cut me off. I tried to get a word in, but Hannity continued to rant about John Kerry and the liberals who want to destroy the country. I could hear the crowd roar its approval. I tried again to be heard, but Hannity talked over me. I decided to keep talking but my words seemed to make no difference. The crowd was cheering Hannity's diatribe. One listener e-mailed me later in the day to explain that Hannity's sound engineer had apparently turned down the volume on me, in order to ensure that Hannity's voice predominated.

All over talk radio and talk TV, liberal voices are being drowned out. Prior to 1987, when the Federal Communications Commission overturned the fairness doctrine, broadcasters had to air opposing views on controversial issues if they wanted to keep their licenses. Now, hosts of talk radio and talk television -- almost all of them right-wingers -- are interested in airing only one view: their own.

The problem runs deeper. Hannity is also the host of one of FOX News' most highly watched cable-television shows, and he and FOX promote each show on the other medium. Hannity also promotes his books on his radio and TV shows, which may help explain why his most recent screed, titled Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism, was at the top of The New York Times best-seller list for several weeks in March and April. Hannity's Midwest broadcast tour -- revving up crowds of right-wing faithful against liberals, Democrats, and John Kerry in particular -- is a logical extension of the other media enterprises.

Make no mistake: The entire effort is designed to get George W. Bush re-elected and install a permanent right-wing Republican majority in America. Bill O'Reilly, another FOX News TV host, also has a radio show, which is carried nationally on more than 400 stations. Like Hannity, O'Reilly uses these mouthpieces to promote his books and goes on broadcast tours to summon Republican crowds and stoke the passions of the right. ...

The problem for liberals and Democrats is not just that we have nothing comparable to this widening empire of right-wing demagoguery (Air America Radio is trying, but it's in few markets so far). The real problem is that liberals refrain from demagoguery because we don't believe in it. Liberalism is the opposite of fanaticism. We cherish tolerance. We value deliberation. We respect rational argument. We oppose all forms of tyranny. We have faith -- and it is nothing but faith -- that, in the end, they won't be able to drown us out, because common sense and common decency are on our side. I hope we're right (Reicj 1-3)

Work cited:

Reich, Robert. “Drowned Out.” The American Prospect, May 12. 2004. Net. https://prospect.org/columns/drowned/

***

In March 2013 Reich was interviewed by Michael Winship, senior writer of Moyers & Company, about changes he has noticed in our country since Watergate. Here are two excerpts that pertain to my subject matter.

***

Many things changed simultaneously. For one thing, many of the technologies that had been developed in the second world war became commercially viable. Satellite communication technologies, cargo ships, container ships, all of that allowed the production process to be parceled out around the world to where everything could be done most cheaply. But, more to the point, we also had a political system that was less willing or able to respond to these changes, a political system that was willing to allow or encourage the demise of unions, that didn’t pay attention to the stagnation of the median wage, even as productivity continued to surge ahead, a political system that did not want to or wasn’t able to make the investments in education and research and development that needed to be made in order to allow the middle class to continue to prosper. And also, a political system that became obsessed with taxes and taxes on the rich, and thereby, because the rich began to have so much more influence in the political system, began to reduce marginal income taxes and make it impossible for the nation to continue the kind of investments we’d been making in the fifties and sixties, in everything from infrastructure all the way through higher education. So add all of these things up, and we saw a corrosion of our democratic political capacities to respond to structural changes in the economy starting in the late 1970s.

…

… I first came to Washington as an intern for Robert Kennedy in 1967. I was back in the 1970s, both in the Ford and in the Carter administration, and then I was again here in the Clinton administration, and I was an advisor in early stages of the Obama administration, and I’ve seen a remarkable steady decline in comity, in collaboration, in civility in this city. Partly, I think it’s because the Republican party has been taken over by a bunch of right wing fanatics. I don’t want to mince words here. I think that’s exactly what’s happened. I think the Democrats and Republicans have forgotten why they’re here and what the public wants them to do. Many Democrats also — I won’t say that they’ve been taken over by left wing fanatics. That’s not the case. But I think many politicians are most interested in their own chances of reelection rather than what is good for the country. And I know that even my students, my best students, who I would want and hope would go into politics, they are eager to go into public service, but they look at politics as essentially corrupt and dirty. Now, to me, that’s dangerous. If we don’t embrace and honor and get involved in politics, we cede democracy to those who are representing the worst or special interests, rather than the public interest.

…

… There’s still a lot of eager young journalists who would like to do investigative reporting, and who are willing to do it on a shoestring. My bigger concern is that we don’t have neutral arbiters any longer of news and information, such that the public will trust them. We have a very bifurcated system of information now. The right listens to Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. The left has their own tribunes. But people now can very easily tune in to the voices and the people they already agree with, who confirm their every suspicion and their values. So without the neutral arbiters, without the Walter Cronkites or the great newspapers that used to be basically trusted, without what we used to call the establishment “mainstream press,” we run the danger of not being able to get word out to Americans about what’s happening.

…

… There’s less analysis. There’s more partisan information, more selective partisan information. There’s less trust, in every institution in our society. Not only Congress and the president, but the media and the judiciary. And without that trust, the public, it seems to me, is put in a very precarious situation in terms of the whole system of governance. What are you left with? You’re left with big corporations and Wall Street and billionaires, and why should anybody trust that they are going to act in the public interest? And this all comes at a time when the challenges that we face, whether they be climate change or nuclear proliferation or poverty, both at home and abroad, or any number of things, the challenges are so large and getting larger that unless we have some set of structures that people believe in and trust to act for all of us — and we used to call that government — then we’re powerless, in a way that I think should disturb all of us (BillMoyers 1-4).

Work cited:

BillMoyers.com Staff. “Robert Reich on Lessons Learned from Watergate.” BillMoyers.com, March 15, 2013. Net. https://billmoyers.com/2013/03/15/rob...

***

I wrote the following letter to particularize the economic plight of many Americans. The woman is a family relative.

***

The mother moved to the Eugene area from California to separate herself and her two children from her irresponsible, belligerent husband.

Experienced in auto insurance sales, she was hired by AAA but assigned to work as a domestic travel agent for $9 an hour.

Three years later, having earned an undergraduate business degree, she tried selling individual health insurance policies first for one major corporation and then another, her income mostly a percentage of her sales. Told by her superiors that she would be given sales leads, she was forced instead to make “cold calls”; and she had to travel great distances to meet possible clients. She earned no more each month than what AAA had paid her.

She works now for a broker of a major auto/homeowners insurance corporation. She earns $12 an hour; but, the economy having worsened, her boss losing clients, starting this month, she will be working fewer hours. Her ex-husband, having income problems of his own, no longer pays his minimal child support. Right now she is trying to find a part time second job.

Her son continues to have difficulty in elementary school. He is bright, but he is forgetful and disorganized. She is not able to provide him the necessary daily supervision to correct this, having but three hours each school night to complete a host of tasks.

This economic system imposed on us by the current administration and corporate America enriches the very rich while the middle and under classes, thwarted by stagnant wages, denied career-worthy jobs, crushed by escalating living costs, plummet toward bankruptcy.

This mother’s true story is one of millions of cautionary narratives that reveal the husk of what this country has become. We Republicans, Democrats, Independents, and Greens must join forces to affect great change. Greed and concentration of power must be curtailed. Our Founding Fathers created our government to serve not the elite few, but all.

Printed January 2, 2008, in the Siuslaw News
February 12, 2008, in The World

***

Faithful consumers of Ring-Wing radio, television, and internet messaging voice their triple-locked, unassailable opinions also on opinion pages of newspapers. Three letters in one issue of the Register-Guard was too much for me to ignore.

***

January 10 was Far Right Republican Day for readers of the Guard’s Mailbag.

We had, first, Steve Hawke’s “four-legs-good, two-legs bad” bleat about capitalism and socialism. Then we had Jeff Crocker’s everyone-does-it defense of GOP election fixing. Afterward, we had Vikki Berg’s homosexuality-is-bad-because-God-forbids-it polemic.

Mr. Hawke, our country is at its best when it utilizes limited forms of both systems. A man deserves to reap the benefits of his ingenuity and hard labor, but he also needs protection. Unfettered capitalism has no conscience.

Mr. Crocker, the control of election results is a major characteristic of a fascist state. The purging of voter rolls, the “caging” of voters, the touch-screen voting machines, the “mysterious” switching of vote tallies, the disappearance of votes, voter intimidation, and now state photo-ID requirements that disenfranchise minorities, the poor, and the elderly: this massive dishonesty is tolerable because a few Democrats in the past may have cheated?

Mrs. Berg, you are equating assertion with fact. That the Constitution was written by men is fact. That “the Bible is the written voice of God” is assertion. Repeatedly, man, citing a Supreme Being, has legislated awful rules and committed awful acts. That is why our Constitution separates church and state. Nobody should be made to suffer based on assertion.

Printed January 18, 2008, in the Register-Guard

***

My wife and I were in Eugene the morning that the above letter was printed. When we got back home, I had these three phone messages waiting.

***

Mr. Titus, Harold Titus, my name is Lucius Ghent. I’ve just read your letter in the Register-Guard today. I think it’s a very, very good letter. I thank you very much for it and I hope that many others will read it and understand how this country of ours is supposed to go, how it’s supposed to be run instead of thinking that one must worship at the feet of the corporations. Once again thank you so much. I appreciate your letters very much. Bye, bye now.

***

Mr. Titus, Jeff Crocker calling, and I wanted to get your address. I’d like to send you a copy of the thing I was replying to in the Register-Guard. A guy named Sammy Stanford called us “Neocon Fascist thugs” and all I did was reply saying you guys are a bunch of hypocrites and that’s all I meant by it. There’s no clean sheets in this wash, son. Talk to you later. Bye.

***

Jeff Crocker again, Howard – Harold. I thought your name sounded familiar and I was putting this stuff in the file and I see we already had words. “We Are Now a Corporatocracy,” according to your file. Democrats are just as corrupt. They take political money. A week later was mine. And I think we can agree to disagree., but I tell you what. You guys are just as crooked as we are, and I think neither excuses the other. But I hate it when you guys act like we are a, like somebody says, “right-wing thugs, Nazis,” no better than you guys. Socialism is just as bad as Fascism. Bye.

***

I received the following letter the next day in the mail.

***

Thank you, Mr. Harold Titus.

Great letter in the Register Guard today! I’ve read many of your letters in the Snews too and always appreciate your point of view. You’re a terrific writer with many thought-provoking ideas. Please keep up with your progressive insights. One of these days maybe we can truly educate so many who don’t get it at all!
Grateful,
Jennifer French

***

This letter appeared in the Register-Guard January 29

***
.
This is to commend Harold Titus of Florence who wrote Jan. 18 in objection to the predominance of “Republican letters” in an earlier issue.

In reference to religious claims – as distinguished from fact – he tactfully calls them “assertions.” Readers – especially Republican readers – should be reminded that religion is subjective, meaning a matter of opinion based on faith; whereas science is objective, based on factually observation and testing.

They also should remember that faith, in its religious sense, is superstition, since both terms apply alike to the belief in imaginary beings, creatures and events. While such things might be true, the definition also applies to fairies.

Personally, I have always liked the idea of fairies.

Stuart C. Burdick, Coos Bay

***

On January 30 I received from a Paul Silas of Eugene a three-page religious screed similar to anonymous messages I received twice in 2003. Below are the passages that Silas highlighted with a marker pen.

… Indeed the whole world was full of idols at that time; the pure worship of God existed nowhere; and in fact there were countless monstrous superstitions everywhere. But Satan had bewitched Athens more than other cities, so that the men were driven with greater madness to their impious and perverted rites. And this is an example that is worth noting, that the city, which was the abode and seat of wisdom, the fount of all the arts, the mother of humanity, surpassed all the others in blindness and madness.

… But the Holy Spirit, convicting the whole world of ignorance and stupidity, says that all the teachers of liberal science were spell-bound by an unusual madness; and from that we gather what use human shrewdness is in the things of God. And there is no doubt that God allowed the Athenians to fall into extreme folly, so that they might be a warning to all generations that all the acuteness of the human mind, aided by learning and teaching, is nothing but foolishness, when it comes to the Kingdom of God.

… “and all liars, shall have their part in the lake of fire which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21, 1-8)

***

On February 6 I received a five-page religious tract from Augustine of Eugene. Below is the highlighted portion.

***

“... thou hast known the sacred writings which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. Every scripture is inspired of God is also profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction which is in righteousness: that the man of God may be complete, furnished unto every good work.” (2 Timothy 3.12-17)

Letters, 2007, Respect for Veterans, October 27, November 7

Veterans Day was approaching. I had just finished and been moved by E. B. Sledge’s book With the Old Breed, a marine’s experiences on Peleliu and Okinawa. I had also watched Ken Burns’s documentary about World War II. I wanted our Democratic Club to honor veterans living in our town’s vicinity. Here is the announcement I had the Siuslaw News print of what I subsequently planned.

***

Jim Rassmann and Arnie Roblan To Speak at the Bromley Room Nov. 3

Local Vietnam War veteran Jim Rassmann and House District 9 State Representative Arnie Roblan will be guest speakers of the Florence Area Democratic Club Nov. 3 in the Siuslaw Library’s Bromley Room. The event begins at 12 noon.

A former Special Forces officer and retired Los Angeles sheriff’s lieutenant, Jim Rassmann received national recognition for his active support of Senator John Kerry’s candidacy for President in 2004. It was Lieutenant Kerry who saved Mr. Rassmann’s life in Vietnam, hauling him out of river water and onto the deck of his swift boat while both were receiving enemy fire.

Mr. Rassmann will likely address the stalemate in Iraq, White House policy, veterans affairs, and the candidacy of Jeff Merkley to replace Gordon Smith as Oregon’s junior U.S. Senator. He is the chair of the Veterans for Jeff Merkley campaign.

Arnie Roblan is serving his second term as our (District 9) state representative. This past session Representative Roblan was the House Deputy Majority Whip. Mr. Roblan will speak on behalf of Representative Merkley, the current State Speaker of the House.

Both men will answer questions.

The Florence Area Democratic Club anticipates a large audience. It will conduct its regular business following the speakers’ presentation. Nonmembers may leave after the speakers have concluded.

***

This announcement was printed on Saturday, October 27,a week before the event, instead of Wednesday, Oct. 31, as requested. The turnout was disappointing, about 27 people. We had put out 50 chairs.

***

Based on an audio recording I made, I sent a synopsis of Rassmann’s and Roblan’s remarks to club members who did not attend. The following information is taken from that synopsis.

Jim Rassmann’s Thoughts about Combat Soldiers during World War II

He had read a Time-Life book about the war and was astounded at the great loss of life on Tarawa. He had discovered that a urologist friend (Jim’s parents’ age) had been a Marine physician on Tarawa. He knew the man because of their shared interests in growing orchids. The man had landed on the beach in the second wave and was jumped on in a bomb crater by a Japanese officer during a bonsai charge. After playing dead, the doctor struck the Japanese officer unconscious with a rusted pistol. He claimed to have captured the first of only 17 prisoners taken during the Tarawa campaign.

Jim and his physician friend talked about how they had unwound from their experiences upon their separation from the service.

The physician had served all the way through Okinawa. His six week journey to San Francisco by ship gave him time to adjust. He believed that this was done purposely, that it provided a needy safety valve.

Rassmamn came home immediately by plane and came to feel he needed more time during transport.

Rassmann’s Comments about George W. Bush’s Conduct of the Iraq War

We are making supposed progress because we are losing fewer people. We are counting fewer dead bodies every morning. The administration is going to go to great lengths to tell people that the surge is working and Bush’s plan is wonderful. In truth, the sectarian killings have been very successful. Many have been killed; many have run off. Those with the ability to do so have left the country. In the spring we will have to bring some 25,000 troops home. The Mahdi army will start doing its thing. Al Qaeda and other insurgents will plant more wired artillery shells and explosively formed projectiles. The insurgents are biding their time until we reduce our numbers. Every time Bush says something about how well we are doing, “I want to vomit.” It isn’t true.

Our country has joined a select group of nations that utilize torture. “I find it extremely embarrassing.” Those that have experienced waterboarding to see what it is like say it takes no more than a liter of water to make you think you are going to drown. You may lose consciousness. People not strapped down sometimes break bones thrashing about. Their air supply is being cut off; they are, in fact, being drowned.

“We’ve got somebody in office right now who is trying to follow the lead of Richard Nixon: I am the President. What I say goes.” “That’s wrong.” A lot of people in other countries “are appalled by what’s going on in the United States. George Bush knows it. He doesn’t care. Dick Cheney certainly doesn’t care.”

“What can I do about it? I have endorsed Jeff Merkley. I am chairing the veterans committee for his campaign. I am doing everything I can to help him win the Senate seat for Oregon to unseat Gordon Smith. Gordon Smith will do anything and say anything, in my opinion, to retain his Senate seat. He will do anything” to have people believe that he is a moderate conservative. I am not one of those people

“If you read [the biography] John Adams, you will learn that this sort of thing was going on in the 1700s when this country started.” When you have people dissent, “disequilibrium occurs and people get upset.”

Our army is being affected. “We have people leaving the military as soon as they possibly can.” An officer who has a minimum of eight years of service can be called back into the service until he is 56.

According to an NPR report, in some units serving in Iraq the divorce rate is at 70%. The suicide rate is high as well. Rassmann knows a young Army JAG (Judge Advocate General) officer that served at Abu Ghraib prison. He is suffering from PTSD, “not because he was in combat but because of what he had to deal with. Those little pictures we saw that were so horrendous on the news were not the worst things that went on there.”

“Like Vietnam in 1973 and on, the mid-grade, company grade officers [are] leaving in droves. The younger NCOs [are] leaving in droves.” Here are some statements in a letter of resignation a copy of which was sent to Jim from a serving Marine Corp major and friend.

“I have spent ten years as a Marine Corp officer including two tours of duty in Iraq.”

“On both occasions I volunteered for active duty and willingly answered my nation’s call.”

“I greatly value my Marine Corps’ experience and deeply appreciated the opportunity to service my county.”

“Over the previous six years the current administration has suspended habeas corpus, engaged in torture, conducted rendition flights to other countries, and instituted warrantless wire-tapping.”

“I believe these actions collectively constitute an erosion of our civil liberties and are threatening the integrity of our country.”

“I am deeply troubled by the unchecked growth of power within the executive branch and the lack of transparency and accountability that has resulted.”

“The war in Iraq is a result of this. It’s been prosecuted incompetently, yet no one has been held accountable.”

“This lack of accountability and the willing politicalizaton of the military by the administration has destroyed my faith in the chain of command.”

“When I swore my commissioning oath as a Marine Corp officer, I swore to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. I took and continue to take that oath seriously.”

“It is because of this oath I cannot in good conscience continue to serve in the military executing the policy initiatives of the current administration.”

Jim warned him that “they may come get you.” His friend responded, “That’s okay.” Article 88 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice states you will not bad-mouth the President, the Vice President, the Congress, and assorted other people. “There are people leaving the military just because of this and I believe based on [being in] the same situation I would probably do the same.”

“I think we are in big big trouble, and I think that [if] all of us who believe in the Constitution [and] believe in fair play, don’t do our jobs [and] work on our friends, neighbors, and relatives, we are going to see more of the same.”

***

I wrote this letter after the Rassmann and Roblan presentation and after having watched the Ken Burns documentary about World War II.

***

The Ken Burns documentary about World War II drives home the point that servicemen gave up their lives in great number to defeat German and Japanese autocracy. Being on the front lines was a ghastly experience that too few survived.

Those service people that have followed -- in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq -- have suffered equally horrific circumstances.

We who have not served in the armed forces or served in times of peace can never identify. A broad chasm separates us from the combat veteran. We can only intellectualize what he has experienced: the fear of immediate death; the horror of obliteration of flesh, bones, and sinew; the dehumanization of conscience; the numbing constancy of endless combat; the inevitable realization that the longer a combat soldier survives the greater are the odds that he will die.

To do justice to those who risked all we should stand at the edge of that great gulf and learn. Ken Burns’s documentary helps. So does E. B. Sledge’s book With the Old Breed, a marine’s experiences on Peleliu and Okinawa. Hearing veterans like Jim Rassmann speak about the present conflict should be mandatory.

There are those in public office that refuse to stand at the edge of this separation of experience, that view Americans in uniform as expendable instruments of ideological, unilateralist policy. Standing with them are the malevolent, the deluded, and the disinterested. Apart from them are the rest of us. For the sake of our country, we, the latter, must heed our veterans’ experiences and work yet harder to have our voices heard!

Printed November 7, 2007, in the Siuslaw News

Letters, 2007, Doing My Job, June 6, August 4, August 30, September 11

My contempt for George W. Bush and his administration and the lies that they had perpetrated had not abated. The war in Iraq was especially vexing. I sent this letter off to the Eugene Register-Guard in June.

***

It was not a concern about national security that caused the Project for a New American Century think-tankers in 1998 to urge Pres. Clinton to use our military to overthrow Saddam Hussein.

It was not national security that prompted Dick Cheney to conduct a secret energy task force in 2001 to plan how, among other things, to gain control of approximately 783 billion barrels of Iraqi oil waiting to be plumbed.

It was not to protect the homeland that our Fearless Leader inquired of Richard Clarke immediately after 9/11, “Was it Saddam?”

It was not the thought of devastation of American cities that Bush and Rice in late 2002 raised the specter of “mushroom clouds.”

It was not to liberate the Iraqi people from a cruel dictator to give them God’s gift of democracy (WMDs not having been discovered) that Bush invaded Iraq.

It is not to vanquish al Qaeda, win the “War on Terror,” and “keep the terrorists from following us home” that our intrepid Decider/Liar keeps our dutiful soldiers perpetually in harm’s way.

Lift the lid of these flag-draped, fear-mongering demagogues’ deception to discover that it is still about privatization of untapped oil reserves, international oil companies, production sharing agreements (PSA’s), 160% return on investments, getting the Iraqi Parliament to swallow the Cheney group’s thieving oil bill, permanent military bases, and lasting oil field protection that will cause us – if they have their way – to remain in Iraq until at least January 2009.

Printed June 6, 2007, in the Eugene Register-Guard

***

I was now experiencing some editorial revision. This paper’s editor chose to make the tone of the letter less harsh. He put the appropriate titles before “Cheney,” “Bush,” and “Rice” early in the letter and in the third to last paragraph he deleted “Liar” from “Decider.” In the second to last paragraph he deleted “lasting oil field protection.”

In addition to writing letters to newspapers, I was kept busy doing my job, being the chair of the Florence Area Democratic Club. One of my objectives was to inform the public about various local-to-national issues through the hosting of points of view offered by informed speakers at our club meetings and the screening of specific issue DVD documentaries. One such screening took place August 7. I wrote this letter to publicize the event.

***

A substantial majority of the American public understands now that President Bush’s decision to invade Iraq was a horrendous mistake. A substantial portion of that majority supported the invasion and the first year of the resultant occupation. It is for these Americans that watching “War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death” would be especially valuable.

The Florence Area Democratic Club is pleased to announce that it will show Norman Solomon’s quality documentary in the Siuslaw Public Library’s Bromley Room Tuesday evening, August 7, at 6:30 p.m.

“War Made Easy” does not delve into the reasons why our country went to war. It provides, instead, an insightful analysis of how we Americans were persuaded to back the invasion and how the administration has tried to keep our support since. The documentary draws parallels to the information previous administrations disseminated to justify their aggressions. The documentary strikes down several widely accepted myths. Most importantly, the documentary establishes a concrete basis of skepticism to help us forestall future, unwarranted aggressions.

“Learn history. Then change it,” the blurb on the back of the DVD case states. Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, the people, if well informed, may be relied on to set them to rights.”

There lies the difficulty -- being well informed. Don’t miss this opportunity to be educated.

Printed August 4, 2007, in the Siuslaw News

***

I reinforced the above letter with the publication of this announcement.

***

War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death is the title of an important documentary to be viewed Aug. 7 at 6:30 p.m. in the Siuslaw Public Library’s Bromley Room.

Featuring columnist and author Norman Solomon, the documentary analyzes propaganda patterns utilized by the current administration and past administrations to justify U. S. military actions. It delineates the various ways the press and radio and TV media assisted the Bush administration in the enactment and furtherance of its war agenda. It answers well the questions, why did the majority of Americans support the invasion of Iraq and why did it take so long for most to recognize that their allegiance was tragically misguided.

“What has occurred with one war after another is still with us,” Norman Solomon warns. “These dynamics are in play in terms of the U.S. occupation of Iraq, working in other countries such as Iran; and the future will be replicated to the extent that we fail to understand what has been done with these wars in the past.”

The presentation of War Made Easy is sponsored by the Florence Area Democratic Club.

Printed August 4, 2007, in the Siuslaw News

***

Intent on informing local voters about taxation matters that Republicans never mention, I wrote this letter in August.

***

Republicans extol low taxes and limited government. Let’s see what history tells us about their and Democratic Party stewardship.

The highest marginal personal income tax was 77% the final year of World War I. GOP President Herbert Hoover had it down to 25% going into the Great Depression. Franklin Roosevelt raised it to 63%, then 79%, financed huge recovery programs; and the country rebounded.

The rate reached 94% during World War II. It remained in the low 90s until 1964. Tax dollars rebuilt Europe, renewed our national infrastructure, and provided low cost college education. The highest tax rate stayed at 70% between 1965 and 1981, and the middle class flourished.

Ronald Reagan dropped the rate to 50%, then 38.5%, and finally 28%. His “voodoo” economics and huge defense spending increased our heretofore manageable national debt 260%. None of his deficit spending went to education, infrastructure, or programs to help the poor.

Bill Clinton raised the rate to 39.6%, lowered taxes for low and middle-income workers, established an economic environment that created 23 million jobs, and nearly halted the ascent of the national debt.

George W. Bush has given the rich a 35% tax rate and substantial capital gains, dividend, inheritance, and corporate tax cuts; spent billions on an immoral war; caused extensive unemployment; ignored depressed wages and out of control living expenses; and watched the national debt rise from $5.7 to $8.9 trillion.

Printed August 30, 2007, in the Eugene Register-Guard

***

The editor changed the second sentence of the first paragraph to read: “Let’s see what history tells us about their stewardship compared with the Democratic Party.”

The following letter was the result of my failed effort to have the Siuslaw News print our club’s call for impeachment proceedings to be initiated against President Bush and Vice President Cheney. The paper would print what I wanted printed only as a paid ad. I decided, instead, to send this letter to our Congressman, Peter De Fazio. Here is that letter.

***

Dear Congressman De Fazio,

We, the undersigned, call for the immediate impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Agreeing with the contents of George Myers’s letter printed in the Register-Guard September 10 (copy enclosed), we reject the argument put forth by you and other Democratic Party members of Congress that impeachment proceedings should not take place because the removal of the President and Vice President from their offices by the Senate would not occur and too much of the House’s important business would not be completed.

This administration has done great injury to our nation and Constitution. Grounds for impeachment abound. Doing what is right must take precedence.

We agree entirely with George Myers’s reasons for initiating impeachment.

One, impeachment proceedings might just persuade George Bush and Dick Cheney that “they dare not begin new, disastrous actions such as attacking Iran.”

Two, impeachment proceedings would demonstrate that the illegal Bush-Cheney expansion of executive power has not established “precedents for allowable behavior of future administrations.”

And, three, impeachment proceedings would demonstrate to the world that Americans “disapprove of the arrogant paths our country has taken over the last six years and that America can again become a focal point of democratic ideals and international cooperation.”

We urge you, sir, to recognize the will of the majority of Democrats in your district, in the state, and nationally and support impeachment.

Maude Brunette, Michele Jean, Hugh Schneider,
Stephanie Chestler, Garry Kelly, Judy Schwartz,
Bill Collins, Jerry Nordin, Mike Schwartz,
Betty Crooks, Doris Patterson, Cynthia Stillman,
Nancy Gardiner, Wilber Patterson, Harold Titus,
Bill Henry, Karin Radtke, Janet Titus,
Nadya Henry, Harry Rickard, Jenny Velinty,
Lu Herr, Nancy Rickard

Copies: to Senators Wyden and Smith
Letter mailed September 11, 2007

Letters, 2007, The New Chair, February 14, February 17, February 28

I became chair of the Florence Area Democratic Club in January 2007. I had sensed that I would be asked because I knew that nobody wanted the responsibility and, having been club secretary for three years, I would be approached. Two years earlier the person chosen to recruit candidates had not been able to find anybody amenable and had chosen herself to serve the two-year term. So, I thought, are you up to it? Do you feel qualified? I believed that I was. I had learned a lot about what the job entailed through observation. I had my opinions about what I would want to try to accomplish and I had thoughts about how I wanted to conduct meetings. I had been a school teacher for 32 years. I would not be the first person asked, but I was okay with that. I would serve as chair for only 2 years, I assured myself. Thereafter, somebody else would have to do it.

Several days after my first club meeting I had a heart incident that put me in the hospital for several days. Two stents were put in one of my heart arteries. So, maybe your tenure as chair might be shorter than you had thought, passed through my mind. However, I chaired what I considered a very successful February meeting of what became a very active month.

***

Too many registered Republicans eat up information they receive on the internet that they want to believe is fact. Here are a few excerpts from an article about intentional GOP internet misinformation.

***

Not all of the misinformation being passed along online is complete fiction, though some of it is. Snopes.com has been exposing false viral claims since the mid 1990s, whether that’s fabricated messages, distortions containing bits of truth and everything in between. Founder David Mikkelson warned in a Nov. 17 article not to lump everything into the “fake news” category. “The fictions and fabrications that comprise fake news are but a subset of the larger bad news phenomenon, which also encompasses many forms of shoddy, unresearched, error-filled, and deliberately misleading reporting that do a disservice to everyone,” he wrote.
A lot of these viral claims aren’t “news” at all, but fiction, satire and efforts to fool readers into thinking they’re for real.

We’ve long encouraged readers to be skeptical of viral claims, and make good use of the delete key when a chain email hits their inboxes. In December 2007, we launched our Ask FactCheck feature, where we answer readers’ questions, the vast majority of which concern viral emails, social media memes and the like. Our first story was about a made-up email that claimed then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wanted to put a “windfall” tax on all stock profits of 100 percent and give the money to, the email claimed, “the 12 Million Illegal Immigrants and other unemployed minorities.” We called it “a malicious fabrication” — that’s “fake news” in today’s parlance.

In 2008, we tried to get readers to rid their inboxes of this kind of garbage. We described a list of red flags — we called them Key Characteristics of Bogusness— that were clear tip-offs that a chain email wasn’t legitimate. Among them: an anonymous author; excessive exclamation points, capital letters and misspellings; entreaties that “This is NOT a hoax!”; and links to sourcing that does not support or completely contradicts the claims being made.

Those all still hold true, but fake stories — as in, completely made-up “news” — have grown more sophisticated, often presented on a site designed to look (sort of) like a legitimate news organization. Still, we find it’s easy to figure out what’s real and what’s imaginary if you’re armed with some critical thinking and fact-checking tools of the trade (Kiely and Robertson 1-2).


Work Cited:

Kiely, Eugene and Robertson, Lori. “How To Spot Fake News.” FactCheck.Org, November 18, 2016. Net. https://www.factcheck.org/2016/11/how...

***

Here is a letter to the editor of the Siuslaw News written by a prominent local Republican that incorporated misinformation that the writer had garnered from such an e-mail chain message.

***

I received this e-mail shortly after 9/11 and I think it’s timely to share it again, as we seem to forget so quickly.

Anyone remember this? It was 1987.

At a lecture they were playing an old news video of Lt. Col. Oliver North testifying at the Iran-Contra hearings during the Reagan Administration. There was Ollie in front of God and country getting the third degree, but what he said was stunning! He was being drilled by some senator.

“Did you not recently spend close to $60,000 for a home security system?”

Ollie replied, “Yes, I did Sir.”

The senator continued, trying to get a laugh out of the audience. “Isn’t that just a little excessive?”

“No, sir,” continued Ollie.

“No? And why not?” the senator asked.

“Because the lives of my family and I were threatened, sir.”

“Threatened? By whom?” the senator questioned.

“By a terrorist, sir,” Ollie answered.

“Terrorist? What terrorist could possibly scare you that much?”

“His name is Osama bin Laden, sir,” Ollie replied.

At this point the senator tried to repeat the name, but couldn’t pronounce it, which most people back then probably couldn’t. A couple of people laughed at the attempt. Then the senator continued. “Why are you so afraid of this man?” the senator asked.

“Because, sir, he is the most evil person alive that I know of,” Ollie answered.

“And what do you recommend we do about him?” asked the senator.

“Well, sir, if it were up to me, I would recommend that an assassin team be formed to eliminate him and his men from the face of the earth.”

The senator disagreed with this approach, and that was all that was shown of the clip. The senator was Al Gore.

Von Goethe said, “There’s nothing more terrifying than ignorance in action.”

So much tragedy and terror could have been avoided if it were not for complete ignorance. Now everyone wants to whine and cry because George Bush, our current President, can’t fix all the world’s problems. Call on Al Gore!

When I read the weekly letters to the editor, I say God help us all.

Donna Dobson (Co-Chair of the West Lane Republicans)
Printed February 14, 2007, in the Siuslaw News

***

I had to respond.

**

West Lane Republicans Co-Chair Donna Dobson (letters Feb. 14) claims that Al Gore, questioning Oliver North during the Iran-Contra hearing in 1987, discounted the threat of Osama bin Laden.

Not so. What she quoted is a hoax. (See (http://hoaxbusters,ciac.org/HBHackedH...)

North himself has refuted the account. The individual questioning North was Committee Counsel John Nields, not “a senator.” The security system that North installed cost $16K, not $60K. The terrorist North referred to was not bin Laden but Abu Nidal.

Mrs. Dobson made it seem that the quoted account eventually identified Al Gore. The hoax identified no specific senator.

Mrs. Dobson quoted Von Goethe: “There’s nothing more terrifying than ignorance in action.” How true. She ascribes that characteristic to Gore, not The Present Occupant, complaining that “everyone wants to whine and cry because George Bush … can’t fix all the world’s problems.”

Who ignored absolutely the Clinton administration’s emphatic warnings during the 2000 transition that al Qaeda was the greatest threat to our nation’s security?

Who abandoned the pursuit of bin Laden and, lying flagrantly, sold a majority of the public a bogus rational for invading Iraq?

Who now wants to bomb Iran?

God definitely didn’t help us when the Supreme Court selected George Bush! Think about it. Al Gore our president. The 9/11 attack probably thwarted. No war in Iraq. International respect. An earlier heightened awareness of global warming. Progressive taxation. A curb on social and economic injustice.

The list goes on and on.

Printed February 17, 2007, in the Siuslaw News

***

The following ad appeared in the 2007 Non-Profit Organizations supplement of the February 28 Siuslaw News. As Chair of the Florence Area Democratic Club, I had the responsibility of putting the ad together.



“Whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, the people, if well informed, may be relied on to set them to rights.” -- Thomas Jefferson

The Florence Area Democratic Club

Hear Our Voices, Heed Our Concerns


“At its most basic level the Democratic Party stands for two things: the goal of securing the well being, the rights, and the access to equal opportunity of every citizen and the belief that government has a responsibility to foster it.” – George Myers

“We believe that elemental human rights should not be held as chattel by the economically advantaged and the power elite.” – Hugh Schneider

“I have chosen to be near people who are tolerant of others, who will not write laws that affect my choices for my own body, who will help me take care of this planet, who will work to have an open, clean government, and who will work to educate our children to give them opportunities to do better than their parents.” – Nancy Rickard

“It takes a village to raise a child; it takes all of us to care for each other.” – Karin Radtke

“I believe that children, the disabled, and the elderly need special protection to ensure that they thrive in our society.” – Betty Uchytil

“People of all faiths, races, and sexual orientation have the right to a dignified place in society.” -- Lu Herr

“Democrats are more apt to go to work for this country, to secure strong armed forces ready to serve when called upon but never to achieve selfish motives.” – Wende Jarman

“Freedom of speech, equal rights, balanced courts.” -- Jenny Velinty

“It is moral to provide our veterans with superior medical care.” – Lu Herr

“America needs a foreign policy that is mindful of history, respectful of other societies’ cultures, pragmatic in approach, and supportive of peace.” – Harold Titus

“We support the rights of Americans to make health care decisions with dignity and privacy, whether at the beginning or the end of life.” – Lu Herr

“I believe America deserves a comprehensive, single payer health care system that serves every American.” – Betty Uchytil

“Taxes should be based on ability to pay and be levied fairly on individuals and corporations alike. They should be adequate to meet the legitimate needs of all our people with private supplements welcome from generous individuals, religious groups, and others.” – Betty Crooks

“Working men and women deserve fair working conditions and a living wage.” – Betty Uchytil

“We must have an electoral process that is funded by public money, is uniform in regulation and procedure, is inclusive of voters, is impartially supervised, and employs individually marked, hand or optical screen-counted ballots.” – Harold Titus

“I believe politics is too important to leave only to those who can afford to control the process. Because the Democratic Party comes closest to being ‘of the people, by the people, and for the people,’ I am glad to call myself a Democrat.” – Wilbur Patterson


“Go forth in love and peace – be kind to dogs – and vote Democratic.”
-- Thomas Eagleton (1929-2007)

As I type this (September 28, 2021), most of these people quoted above are gone now, having moved away or being deceased. Wende, Nancy, Hugh, and Karin thankfully remain. I was so fortunate to have met all of these special people and to have served as their chair in 2007 and the years that followed.

Letters, 2006, ATTP, Fate, February 22, July 31

In his State of the Union address, President Obama referred to “the accident of birth” referring to the circumstances into which a particular human being is born. That phrase has entered common usage to refer to the disparity of opportunities experienced by children. It should, however, be abandoned because it does not do justice to the particularities that make us human.

Every person in human history is inseparable from:

1. Genetics: Each human person is the unique genetic combination of his or her parents. There is nothing accidental about this. You could not be you with different parents.

2. History: The unique genetic combination that defines who you are is the product of a historical event – the joining of one particular egg and one particular sperm at a specific moment. If any other egg and sperm had combined, you would not exist. Furthermore, the historical moment into which you were born is essential to your particularity.

3. Geography: You are also born in a particular place. The law, medicine, culture, and agriculture (to mention a few) of your particular place shape you in ways that define who you are.

4. Parenting: Your particular parents – in their presence or absence – profoundly shape your health, education, temperament, personality and opportunities.

5. Community: The people who nurture (or neglect) you and form the moral ecology of your community shape your character, establish social expectations, and create (or limit) your opportunities.

Referring to the “accident of birth” does justice to none of these dynamics that make each individual person unique, important and human. Take the President himself, for example:

1. Genetics: The son of Barack Obama Sr. and Ann Dunham, President Obama is African American. His role as the first African American President in the history of the United States is inseparable from his genetics.

2. History: The timing of President Obama’s birth is important. Had he been born (bracketing the genetic impossibility of that claim for a moment) fifty years prior, he would not have had the opportunity to run for President.

3. Geography: President Obama was born in Honolulu, Hawaii. Had he been born in his father’s home in Nairobi, Kenya, he would not be eligible to run for President of the United States.

3. Parenting: Both the opportunity and adversity of our President’s formative years define him. His mother’s education and abilities unquestionably shaped her son. His father’s absence called for a kind of resilience and persistence unique to Obama Jr.’s situation. Furthermore, his mother’s decision to enroll him in a private college prep school significantly shaped his educational prospects.

4. Community: The care of his grandparents made it possible for young Obama to return to Hawaii at 10 years old for schooling. Had they not been present and supportive, President Obama might have had a very different educational and vocational trajectory.

These are but a few examples that demonstrate the important particularities of our President, which define him. He is not an accident of birth. To say such would be an insult to him.

This is true of every historic individual, and of every human being. Indeed, many of the most important historical figures are defined precisely by their ethnicity, historical moment, particular place, and the nurture of family and community. Consider Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. King’s was born in Atlanta, Georgia in 1929 to an African American pastor and his wife. The community and social networks which Dr. King and his family inhabited were not incidental either to Dr. King’s formation or his historical import. The oppression he experienced as a black man in the South is not incidental. Dr. King cannot be separated from these essential genetic, historical, geographic, relational realities. Neither he nor anyone else is subject to “accident of birth.”

Finally, it must be noted that adversity is not incidental to the identity and character of a person. The expression “accident of birth” suggests that the same person, magically plopped into a different context, would be the same person. This is patently not true. Nelson Mandela’s 26+ years in prison shaped his character and his ability to speak with moral authority. We honor individuals precisely because of the particularities. Conversely, we (rightly) discount the voice of those whose lived experience has not persevered through adversity. The actual, historic, geographical, relational situation of each and every human person matters. We dishonor both the poor and the virtuous by any suggestion that anything about them is accidental or incidental (Scharf 1-2)


Works cited:

Scharf, Graham. “The Accident of Birth Fallacy.” Exploring Information. Net. https://grahamscharf.com/accident-of-...

***

The following letter in the local paper moved me to write a response.

***

This is a reply to Joe Gold’s letter on Jan. 17 concerning housing costs in Florence.

Joe is right, without a clear understanding of the problem, the solution is doomed to be flawed. I work in a minimum wage service industry job in town. I put in my 40 hours+ every week. My significant other works at the hospital and makes a slightly more an hour. We are both active in our community through volunteer organizations, in short, productive members of our beloved Florence.

Not only is there zero hope of homeownership anytime in the foreseeable future, without the help of friends and family, we wouldn’t have been able to get into a rental (first last security). That’s not mentioning the deposits required from PUD, water, sewage, etc. I don’t think there is one reason to point towards that makes the housing situation so difficult. It is a combination of low-paying jobs and ever-increasing monthly rent. With so many things contributing to these factors, I am at a loss as to a feasible solution.

There are so many hard-working good people in this town getting shafted for their efforts, it saddens me to see this occurring in a community I pride on its warm, enthusiastic downhome way of life.

Communities like Florence were founded on the philosophy that hard work rewards you for your efforts. I hold high hopes that stands true in today’s Florence. We are your grocery clerks, you gas station attendants, your care takers, firefighters, mechanics. We maintain those $300,000 yards, we fix your plumbing, kill your bugs, and we greet you with a smile and a friendly word.

Under that smile we’re drowning in your quality of life. Hey, Mr., throw me a rope!

Joe Suda
Printed Jan. 21, 2006, in the Siuslaw News

***

Here was my response. My use of the term “accident” is meant to mean a person has no choice of the facts of his birth. Parentage, place, and time of birth are crucial to whom he becomes. Circumstances being different, he would be another person. It is an accident that he became a human being. Where, when, parentage, and genetic elements become vital upon his birth.

***

When I hear a Republican espousing “meritocracy,” which includes labeling the working class undisciplined, unreliable, and blameworthy, I think of a concept I call ATPP, Accident of Time, Place, and Parentage.

I believe many of my generation have an ATPP story similar to mine.

I was born of unselfish, honest, tolerant parents. I was raised in California (not Mississippi, West Virginia, or Detroit) at a time when a newspaper proofreader could send his son to college. (UCLA’s tuition was $50 a semester)

In 1961 my wife and I, school teachers, scraped together enough money to put a down payment on a “starter” house. Shortly thereafter property values began to accelerate. We lived in our third house twenty-six years, selling it in 1996 for nine times its cost. We inherited some money in 1991, which we invested in the stock market, right at the beginning of the 90s bull market. Because of our good fortune we were able to build a nice home in Florence.

Working hard and making wise decisions obviously matter. ATPP matters just as much.

Had I come of age during the Bush administration, I would not have gone to college. Most likely I would not have a job that paid a living wage. Owning a house would be a bittersweet dream. I would be one of the hard-working service industry employees that Joe Suda spoke so eloquently about in his Jan. 21 letter, smiling at retiree customers like me but struggling to survive.

What are the ATPP stories of Republicans that insist that the Joe Sudas of this community need only “pull themselves up by their bootstraps”?

I know enough about District 9 State House Democratic incumbent Arnie Roblan’s story to know he understands exactly what working people, making seven to ten bucks an hour, are forced to endure.

Does staunch Bush Republican Al Pearn understand? Or does he, like most Republican politicians, adhere to the conservative myth that the poor, because of their condition, are shiftless ne’er-do-wells that, for their own sake, need to be set adrift?

Printed February 22, 2006, in the SiuslawNews

***

Several months later I was contacted by Beth Cohen, a regional director for OSPIRG (Oregon State Public Interest Research Group). I had signed a petition sponsored by OSPIRG calling for legislation to reduce global warming. She talked me into working for OSPIRG as a volunteer. Among other things I said I would write a letter to the Register-Guard calling attention to Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth.” I had already seen the movie. I saw it again, audiotaping much of Gore’s narration. Here is the letter. ATPP does not exclude anybody from the disastrous effects of global warming, all of us but the most foolish and ignorant now recognize.

***

Spiking carbon dioxide emissions, melting ice shelves, hurricanes, floods, heat waves, droughts.

Near the beginning of “An Inconvenient Truth” Al Gore narrates, “Future generations may well have occasion to ask themselves, ‘What were our parents thinking? Why didn’t they wake up when they had the chance?’”

If we do not reduce global warming now substantially, these are the answers we will have to tell them.

Too many of us expected our elected officials to lead. Like the present administration, they didn’t.

Many of us were duped by corporate interests like Exxon-Mobil. Others could not look past their political allegiance or ideology. Many, putting their faith in biased or intimidated “news” reporting, believed that global warming was a hoax or a natural, cyclical phenomenon or something far beyond the world’s ability to remedy.

Like the frog placed in a luke-warm pot of water brought incrementally to a boil, we did not become sufficiently alarmed.

Time is precious. Jump out of the pot. Go see Al Gore’s excellent movie. While you’re at it, log on to www.ospirg.org. Become one of thousands of Americans demanding immediate, aggressive action.

Printed July 31, 2006, in the Eugene Register-Guard

Letters, 2005, If You"re with Me, You're a Patriot, July 13, July 16, September 30

Republicans love to wrap themselves in the American flag. GOP politicians love the military. If you are a critic of any GOP-promoted war, you are not a true American. Bush: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."

***

GEORGE W. BUSH and his supporters are past masters at impugning the reputations and patriotism of opponents, no matter how unimpeachable their reputations might be.
It was therefore amusing to watch the White House switch into reverse after Representative Jean Schmidt of Ohio lectured her congressional colleague, retired Marine Colonel John Murtha of Pennsylvania, about how ''cowards cut and run, Marines never do."
White House spokesman Scott McClellan compared Murtha to the lefty filmmaker Michael Moore after Murtha suggested a six-month timetable pulling troops out of Iraq.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert said that war critics would ''prefer that the United States surrender to terrorists who would harm innocent Americans," and, as usual, Vice President Cheney played the heavy.

When asked about Cheney's criticism, Murtha, a combat veteran, said: ''I like guys who got five deferments and never been there and send people to war and then don't like suggestions about what needs to be done."

Murtha was referring to the fact that Cheney, who had ''other priorities" than fighting for his country, sought and received five deferments during the Vietnam War.

Then it dawned on the White House that, with the president's approval ratings in the cellar, perhaps it was not a good idea to launch personal attacks on such a man as Murtha, who has spent his congressional career backing and helping the military.

So, overnight, the rhetoric changed. From Bush in Asia to Cheney in Washington, Murtha became an honorable American -- misguided, perhaps, but no longer a coward or someone who wanted to have terrorists harm Americans. Schmidt, who appears not to have known who Murtha was, sort of apologized and had her remarks struck from the Congressional Record.

Letting up on Murtha didn't mean letting up on war critics, however. Cheney said that senators who suggested that he and the administration had manipulated prewar intelligence to fit their preconceived decision to invade Iraq were making ''one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city." This by the man who went back to the CIA again and again, leaning on them to find evidence to support an invasion of Iraq; this by an administration that spread a net of misinformation about Saddam Hussein-Al Qaeda links, a charge that the CIA refused to confirm but that Cheney kept making anyway (Greenway 1-2)

Work cited:

Greenway, H. D. S. “Bush's Patriotism Smear.” The Boston Globe, November 29, 2005. Net. http://archive.boston.com/news/globe/...

***

I was especially irritated by the following letter, in which the author. Tony Cavarno, took a shot at long-time liberal letter writer, Lucius Gent.

Although we had never met, Gent had called me twice to thank me for letters I had written. He was a widower in his eighties. At the end of his last letter, prompting Cavarno’s response, Gent, an avowed critic of the Iraq War, had listed his World War II service record, no doubt to prove that critics of the Iraq war had also fought patriotically in wars. Here was Cavarno’s response.

***

OK, enough is enough! Why do we seem to have to read articles from several of the same old people expounding the same old line time and time again? Possibly the Siuslaw News doesn’t have many subscribers and only a few write in, mostly malcontents? For those anti-Bush folks with letters you seem to publish constantly, please get over it! Bush won! Gore lost! I say again, please get over it – you may even feel better if you do.

Please also don’t keep dragging up body count of brave men and women that have given their lives in defense of a better way of life for others, and sounding like the proverbial broken record with the same old tired line of “lies” and “deceit” by our president. Incidentally, in regard to body count of U.S. military Iraq war dead, published weekly by the Siuslaw News, I wonder if that policy existed during WWII, Korea, and Vietnam, hmmm?

As it seems essential to establish credentials under one’s name to give credence, I guess, to their article, let me sign out as:

Tony Cavarno
Florence
20-year U.S. Marine Corps 1st Sgt.
Retiree, Korean and Vietnam War veteran,
Receiver of two Purple Hearts, no Bronze
Star as some, but holder of 18 Citations,
Badges, Combat Awards and Ribbons

***

Here was my response to Cavarno’s letter.

***

Your July 13 letter, Mr. Cavarno, was mean-spirited. Limit your remarks to what you consider factual. Counter what others write that you believe is unfounded. A war veteran citing his military record to disprove the administration’s stereotype that liberals aren’t patriotic does not deserve anyone’s sarcasm.

As to your assertions of fact, ...

Election fraud strikes at the heart of any nation’s democracy. Felon lists that erroneously disenfranchise thousands of opposition party voters, touch screen voting machines designed to leave no paper trail, vote switching, eight hour lines at polls to eliminate a high turnout of voters favoring the “wrong” party – these are recent election day practices that nobody should “get over.”

“Lies and deceit, ... the proverbial broken record.” You may be tired of reading what we write, but those lies were told and fair-minded people that receive most of their information from right wing talk radio and/or network and cable television need to be stimulated to discover on their own what is fact.

On the subject of body counts, to ignore the specific costs of conducting a war is to discredit the “brave men and women that have given their lives” to defend what we Americans hold dear. Body count reminders are especially important when the reasons given for sending our soldiers to war hide actual, unacceptable ideological, economic, and imperialistic motives.

As for casualty reports being a recent development, my wife as a young girl saw weekly pages of photographs in the Cleveland Plain Dealer of metropolitan area World War II servicemen killed, injured, captured, and missing in action.

Printed July 16, 2005, in the Siuslaw News

***

Katrina occurred and Bush provided traitor letter writers like me additional fodder for criticism.

***

First the bull.

“I don’t think anyone could have predicted that the levees would give away.” -- George W. Bush

“Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job.” -- George W. Bush

“Some people are really very anxious to start pointing fingers and playing the blame game.” -- Dennis Hastert

“For centuries, charlatans have been telling Americans that the government can provide, will provide and you deserve to be provided for. Bull.” -- Bill O’Reilly

“What we’ve seen in New Orleans is first and foremost the utter failure of generation after generation after generation of the entitlement mentality.” -- Rush Limbaugh

“The governor failed to call the emergency. And initially, it was the governor
who had to call an emergency.” -- Newt Gingrich

Now the truth.

“This is about the real consequences of what governments do and not do about their responsibilities. And about who winds up paying the price for those policies.” -- Molly Ivins

“Throughout the Bush II years, how many of us have thought in less dramatic moments ‘I can’t believe this is America’?” -- Ellen Goodman

“The truth is the people who suffer the most from Katrina are the very people who suffer the most every day.” -- John Edwards

“What we see here is a harvest of four years of complete avoidance of real problem solving and real governace in favor of spin and ideology.” -- John Kerry

“It’s time to end the impunity of President George W. Bush.” -- Norman Solomon

Printed September 30, 2005, in The World

Letters, 2005, Cheaters Never Prosper? February 19, April 20, June 29

Incensed that George Bush had defeated John Kerry November 2, 2004, by narrowly carrying Ohio, where substantial voter fraud might very well have occurred, seeing that “W.” was acting as if he had been handed a huge mandate to govern as he saw fit, I had to vent my indignation.

***

American elections never play out perfectly. But the dramatic imperfections in the 2004 presidential election in Ohio, as detailed in a series of letters and reports circulated by Representative John Conyers (www.house.gov/conyers), deserved a far more serious response than they received from most Congressional Democrats. Conyers got his information the old-fashioned way: by listening. When Ohioans began to raise concerns about irregularities in the approach of Republican Secretary of State Ken Blackwell–a Bush campaign apparatchik–to conducting the election and counting the votes in the contest that ultimately decided the race between Bush and John Kerry, they initially got more encouragement from Greens and Libertarians than from national Democrats. But Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, took the complaints seriously enough to go to Ohio. There, he and minority staffers for the Judiciary Committee conducted hearings and investigations that reached two basic conclusions: First, voting and vote-counting procedures in Ohio were so flawed that citizens were disenfranchised; second, legitimate questions about the problems with the Ohio vote have yet to be fully resolved. Accordingly, Conyers announced that he would object to the certification of the results from Ohio when Congress met to review and approve Electoral College votes on January 6.

Conyers found a handful of allies among House Democrats, mostly from the Congressional Black Caucus, but he had less luck in the Senate, where at press time only one senator–California’s Barbara Boxer–was considering signing on. At least one backer is required to sustain a formal objection. If sustained, the objection would force a full debate in both House and Senate on whether to count Ohio’s votes for George W. Bush, although in the end those Republican-controlled chambers would have defended Bush’s claim.)

The events surrounding the certification question offered an eerie echo of 2001, when members of the Congressional Black Caucus tried to object to the certification of electoral votes from Florida, only to be ruled out of order because no senator backed their complaint. The scene of African-American members being gaveled into silence was one of the most powerful moments in Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11, and it was impossible to imagine that it would ever be repeated. Yet this year [2005] Conyers, the senior African-American in Congress, pled for a chance “to debate and highlight the problems in Ohio which disenfranchised innumerable voters.”

It is important to note the language Conyers used. He was not calling for overturning the election of George W. Bush. Rather, he was suggesting that, based on the evidence of voter disenfranchisement, flawed or corrupted voting machinery and improper procedures for counting and recounting votes in Ohio, it was inappropriate for Congress simply to rubber-stamp the decisions of Blackwell and other Ohio officials. Ultimately, that objection never had a chance to get beyond the debating stage. But Conyers was right to argue that a formal objection needed to be made, and that the objection should be broadly supported by Democrats–and honest Republicans–in both the House and Senate. That it was not is a sad statement about the seriousness with which most Democrats took their party’s pledge to “count all the votes this time”–and about the prospects for reform of erratic and unequal voting systems that, as Conyers and his aides have ably illustrated, are prone to abuses that undermine confidence in America’s democratic experiment (Nichols 1-2).


Work cited:

Nichols, John. “An Appropriate Objection.” The Nation, January 6, 2005. Net. https://www.thenation.com/article/arc...

***
I resent being lied to, especially by the President of the United States.

Emboldened by his reelection “mandate,” he is at it again, pushing what should be labeled Medical Malpractice Accountability Destruction and Social Insecurity, Let’s Line-the-Pockets-of-Wall Street Privatization.

Each issue deserves a thorough analysis of what is fact and what is crafted beeswax. Look for well-respected newsmagazines and newspapers to continue to provide it. My purpose? To remind you that “Pants on Fire” George W. expects yet again to hoodwink us. Why shouldn’t he, having slipped past us the following?

“Most of the tax cuts went to low-and middle-income Americans.” Oct. 13, 2004

“There was nobody in our government, at least, and I don’t think the prior government that could envision flying airplanes into buildings.” Apr. 13, 2004

“Facing clear evidence of peril [Saddam’s WMD], we cannot wait for the final proof -- the smoking gun -- that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.” Oct. 6, 2002.

“Saddam was a threat because he could have given WMD to terrorist enemies. Sanctions were not working.” Oct. 8, 2004

“Clear Skies legislation will significantly reduce smog and mercury emissions, as well as stop acid rain.” Apr. 22, 2002. It will “bring cleaner air to Americans faster, more reliably, and more cost-effectively than under current law.” Aug. 30, 2003.

“America was targeted for attack because we’re the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world.” No date. “We must uncover every detail and learn every lesson of Sept. the 11th.” July 2002.

“We’ve never let up on Osama bin Laden from day one.” campaign commercial

“Because you [Congress] acted to stimulate our economy with tax relief, this economy is strong, and growing stronger … and jobs are on the rise.” Jan. 20, 2004.

“When a drug comes in from Canada, I want to make sure it cures you and doesn’t kill you.” Oct. 8, 2004

“We are -- should and must provide the best care for anybody who is willing to put their life in harm’s way.” Jan. 17, 2003.

Printed February 19, 2005, in the Siuslaw News

Not having had the votes three years ago to repeal permanently the estate tax, Bush and his friends legislated a graduated increase in the amount a deceased person’s estate is exempt from taxation. This year that amount is 1.5 million. If I should die tomorrow, my heirs would be able to subtract 1.5 million from the value of my estate and would pay taxes solely on what remained. They need not worry. I’m not close to being worth 1.5 million. Less than 1% of the country’s population is.

The way the Repubs presently have it, nobody will have to pay an estate tax in the year 2010. After that, the tax returns. Oh, we can’t have that! they lament. Time to spread again lies about how much small businesses and rural America will be affected. (Fact: 440 such estates paid taxes last year, 1 person out of every 665,989 deceased) We can cut badly needed social programs, short-shrift our veterans, do nothing about spiking medical care expenses, and expand the national debt beyond comprehension; but we must protect yet again the wealthiest of Bush’s friends!

Should be easy, heh, heh, heh, says George. We’ve got the votes! And, heck, 77% of the good folks out there believe the Death Tax affects all Americans! What’s $1 trillion in lost revenue over the first ten years after 2010 anyway? Why, we’ll just grow the economy!

Printed April 20, 2005, in the Eugene Register-Guard

***

My letters were now getting blow-back. I wrote the following criticizing a Republican fool whose frequent letters to the Register-Guard consisted almost entirely of abusive name-calling of Democratic officeholders.

***

James T. Bryant (letters, June 18) rails against the liberal media, which gave scant attention to the blatant election fraud perpetrated by Republicans in Ohio last November. This is the very media that has ignored the Downing Street and related British government memos regarding President Bush’s perfidy about invading Iraq.

Bryant should write Rush Limbaugh’s copy. Or has it been the other way around?

Printed June 29, 2005, in the Eugene Register-Guard

***

I received this response in the mail June 29, 2005. A post-it was attached to it saying “An advance copy. Cheers!”

***

Another liberal idiot checks in. Liberal idiot Harold Titus writes in, from Florence, to criticize me, saying that I sound like every Conservative sounds; fit to be tied over our abusively liberal media’s coverage of the events of the day.

Liberal idiot Titus scolds me and suggests, as all good little liberals in lock-step with kook websites like moron.org, do, that I get all my info from their arch nemesis, Rush Limbaugh. Could it be that liberal idiot Titus listens to Limbaugh, or is he, like all good little liberals, merely repeating the liberal mantra; “Left-wing extremists good and all Conservatives bad”?

Liberals have never recovered from their thumping in every election in recent history. 2000, in Florida, is especially appalling. What they can’t accept is that every liberal rag media organization in the country looked at that election under a microscope and all they found was that George Bush actually got more votes than originally reported. Of course liberals, being basically stupid, didn’t learn that just having the media on their side didn’t let them steal the election and tried it again in Ohio in 2004. Liberals have no ideas so they look to larceny to try and win elections. Idiots!

Remember! The liberal profile is appalling ignorance backed up by fundamental dishonesty. These idiots will say anything, fully knowing that it is a lie if they think it will harm the Bush Administration. Liberal idiots like Titus have no conscience, no morals, no honor, no integrity, no courage, no vision, no perspective and nothing except a seething and drooling rage against a man their superior in every way.

Liberal idiots like Titus despise George Bush and admire Bill Clinton, an admitted liar, a convicted perjurer, a womanizer, an adulterer, a sexual harasser, a disbarred attorney and a three time rapist.

Liberal idiots, to who instinctive idiocy is a gameplan, would not recognize and probably wouldn’t care for an honest man. In the land of our libs a decent and caring man is a freak.

James T. Bryant
Eugene

Letters, 2004---Swiftboat Veterans for Truth, Jim Rassmann--09--18

It was generally acknowledged that the ad campaign having the greatest impact on the 2004 U.S. presidential election was that run by the political action group Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. The group, which counted 275 Vietnam War veterans among its ranks, strongly opposed Senator John Kerry's presidential bid, charging him with being unfit to lead America as its commander in chief. To that end they created, with the help of the Virginia-based advertising agency Stevens Reed Curcio & Potholm, a series of damning television ads calling into question Kerry's war record, the medals he had been awarded, and even his patriotism. The attacks were direct, personal, and highly effective.

Over the course of six months, from May through October 2004, the Swift Boat Veterans, led by fellow Vietnam veteran John O'Neill, raised $6.7 million, all but $800,000 of which was spent producing and airing its television spots. The ads were simple in design and clear in purpose. Each featured a number of real veterans, all members of the Swift Boat Veterans organization, explaining in their own words why they felt that Kerry was ill-equipped to be president. In one ad the veterans repeatedly used words and phrases such as "not been honest," "lied," "lying," "dishonored," "cannot be trusted," and "betrayed" in reference to Kerry. While most major news outlets debunked or refuted the claims of the Swift Boat Veterans, and although only a very few of their ranks had ever actually served with Kerry in combat, their message was played and replayed throughout the national media, garnering them far more exposure than their limited budget ever could have allowed. Indeed, this was part of their overall strategy.

Regardless of the accuracy of their claims, or perhaps because of their inflammatory nature, the Swift Boat Veterans were successful in casting doubt on one of the cornerstones of Kerry's campaign: his war record. …

… Soon after Kerry returned to the United States, however, he became vocal in his opposition to the war. Despite having served in Vietnam—or perhaps because of what he had witnessed there—he came to feel that the war was both immoral and unwinnable. After meeting with a group of Vietnam veterans in early 1971 to hear their eyewitness accounts firsthand, Kerry testified in April of that year before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as an outspoken member of Vietnam Veterans against the War. His testimony detailed atrocities, war crimes and violations of the Geneva Convention that had taken place during the conflict. Many veterans felt that Kerry was betraying and dishonoring them by making sweeping accusations about the conduct of soldiers in the field. In truth, Kerry's primary goal was not to denigrate the actions of his fellow soldiers but rather to condemn those of higher rank who, he felt, either sanctioned or turned a blind eye to crimes being committed against the civilians of Vietnam. U.S. soldiers, Kerry testified, "personally raped, cut off ears, cut off heads, cut off limbs, [and] randomly shot at civilians."

He claimed that these acts "were not isolated incidents but crimes committed on a day-to-day basis with the full awareness of officers at all levels of command."

…

In order to differentiate himself from President Bush, who served in the Air National Guard during the Vietnam War but was never called up for active duty, Senator Kerry made his Vietnam service and decorated heroism a cornerstone of his political campaign. He drew as much attention as he could to his wartime conduct, often appearing with fellow veterans at campaign stops and even saluting the audience as he walked onstage at the Democratic National Convention.

Unfortunately for Kerry, this served to make the attack of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth on his honor and character all the more potent.

By casting doubt on Kerry's war record and by bringing attention to his own antiwar protests in the early 1970s, the Swift Boat Veterans successfully targeted those Kerry supporters for whom his war record and numerous medals were decisive factors in their support (Kolstad 1-3).

Work cited:

Kolstad, Jonathan. “Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.” Encyclopedia.com. Net. https://www.encyclopedia.com/marketin...

***

In 2004, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth started out on the margins of the presidential race. In an era of Old Media domination, they might have stayed there. When the group's founders held a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington on May 4, there was nothing in the next day's Washington Post, and the episode got scant attention elsewhere. A conservative website, FreeRepublic.com, however, covered the news conference and listed the fax numbers of Establishment news organizations, urging readers to send missives demanding to know why they were "blacking out" the event. A day later, the Post and New York Times carried short stories inside the paper. The Post report included the Kerry campaign's response that the Swift Boat Veterans was a "politically motivated organization with close ties to the Bush administration."

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth was organized by Vietnam veterans who profoundly resented Kerry's role in the antiwar movement. … The group was funded and promoted by prominent Republicans, several of whom had ties to both President Bush and Karl Rove, though no evidence of a coordinated effort ever emerged.

As it happened, the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth need not have worried about the amount of coverage they would receive, in either the New Media or the Old. And the spasm of publicity would come at the worst possible time for Kerry. On July 28, one day before Kerry formally accepted the Democratic nomination at the party's national convention in Boston, [Matt] Drudge touted the imminent release of Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry. On the morning of Drudge's report, the book was ranked at #1,318 on Amazon.com. The next day it had jumped to #2, and within a couple of days it hit #1.

The book, published by the conservative Regnery Publishing, alleged that key elements of Kerry's account of his Vietnam service were false. Most dramatically, it claimed that Kerry's Bronze Star for heroic service, earned on March 13, 1969, was based on fraud. The group also questioned other aspects of Kerry's versions of his tour of duty and his involvement with the antiwar movement.

Beyond the book, the Swift Boaters started with relatively modest purchases of television advertising time. But their sophisticated political advisers knew that cable TV, talk radio, and, eventually, the Old Media would pick up on the ads themselves as controversial content, and give them the equivalent of millions of dollars in free coverage. This, of course, promoted their message and drove up awareness of their cause, traffic to their website, and donations to their coffers. In the end, the group was able to purchase additional millions' worth of television ads. Democratic polling showed widespread awareness of the group's message, even in places where the advertisements never aired. The group's work also lit up the blogosphere and talk radio for weeks, giving the Old Media another hook in covering the coverage of the story.

The Swift Boaters pointed out authentic flaws and contradictions in some of Kerry's assertions about his war service and protest activity. But their most sensational claims were either unsupported by evidence or contradicted by independent journalistic inquiries. This nevertheless did nothing to diminish the group's significance in the 2004 campaign: It inflicted crippling damage on Kerry. Many of his strategists in retrospect regard the Swift Boat Veterans as the single biggest reason he is not president today. …

…

One reason the controversy moved from the margins to front-and-center was that Bush's reelection team -- which had been watching the story with delight -- helped push it there. While there is no evidence that the Bush campaign orchestrated the group's allegations, surrogates gave the charges respectable validation (Halperin and Harris 24-25).

Work cited:

Halperin, Mark and Harris, John F., Excerpts from The Way to Win and the ABC internet article “ Political Pundits on How to Win the White House.” ABC News, October 30, 2006. Web. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Books...

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Early in September 2004 our Florence Area Democratic Club President, Betty Crooks, persuaded Jim Rassmann to speak about his experiences with John Kerry during the Vietnam War and his impressions of the presidential campaigns that Kerry and George Bush were waging. Rassmann was and remains a resident of Dunes City, nine miles south of Florence. Standing in the back of the room, I (Harold Titus, secretary of the Democratic Club) videotaped his presentation. I noticed while doing so that there appeared to be no press coverage. The next morning I phoned the local newspaper, the Siuslaw News, to ask if they had had a reporter at the event. No, they had not. The person they had assigned to cover the event had been unable to attend. “Then it falls upon us to report what was said,” I answered.

The following is what I submitted to the newspaper.

Rassmann Tells Florence Citizens the Facts

Jim Rassmann, former Special Forces officer whose life John Kerry saved in Vietnam, retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Deputy, local resident and international orchid authority, spoke last Friday to interested citizens at the Events Center. His appearance was sponsored by the Florence Area Democratic Club.

Mr. Rassmann became involved in Senator Kerry’s campaign because of his particular concern about the forthcoming election. “I felt for the first time in my life I had to do something [politically].” A registered Republican until this year, Rassmann has always voted for the man he believed was the best presidential candidate. This year George Bush is not that candidate.

Attending orchid conferences throughout the world, Rassmann has witnessed both the apprehension and the disdain that foreigners harbor toward the president. “How have you and the U. S. gotten into this situation? You’ve got a cowboy in the White House. He is incompetent,” Rassmann has been told. In Germany, England, France, Japan, South America, everywhere that he has gone the reaction has been the same. These people are “looking to us for the same sorts of ideals that we’ve put forward ever since World War I. We are a country that stands for justice, … law, … fair play. We are a country that does not torture prisoners.” People are frightened of us. The decision we make Nov. 2 “is going to show the rest of the world what we are all about.” They will “be watching very, very closely.”

Rassmann spoke at length about his Swift Boat experiences.

In March of 1969, in charge of 30 Chinese and Vietnam nationals at the very southernmost tip of South Vietnam, Rassmann conducted military operations for thirty days with Navy Seals and several swift boat commanders, one of whom was John Kerry, with whom he would be associated for two weeks. The boats were operating at the confluence of two large rivers and the many canals running perpendicular to them. The area was largely mangrove swamp. Jungle came right to the edge of the rivers. It was a very dangerous area. “I got ambushed a lot. I got in a lot of fire fights.”

On March 13 Rassmann was on John Kerry’s boat. They discovered amongst a few huts a large cache of rice buried in the ground. He and Kerry blew up much of the cache by dropping into a hole four hand grenades. One of Rassmann’s mercenaries was blown to pieces. “John Kerry among some of his crew policed up all the parts … [He] was not an officer who was afraid to get his hands dirty."

They motored off to an adjacent area and came under fire. The boat to Kerry’s left hit a mine. Five to seven seconds later Kerry’s bow gunner had his M-16 disabled. He yelled for another weapon. Rassmann, carrying a spare, moved toward him along the narrow left side of the boat. A smaller explosion under the boat sent Rassmann sailing into the river and Kerry hurtling across the pilothouse into the bulkhead.

Rassmann went to the bottom of the river to wait for the other swift boats to pass. “As soon as I cleared the surface, I started getting fired at.” He headed under water for one of the banks. “Every time I’d come up for air I’d get shot at … They were AK’s [the enemy’s weapon, not the sailors’ M-16s] … I could hear the AK’s fire [an unmistakable sound]. Five or six breaths later I came up and here are the boats coming back towards me. I distinctly remember two boats. I didn’t see any of the others.”

Critics have claimed that other boats were ten feet to ten yards behind him.

Rassmann swam toward the center of the river. “I didn’t see any other boats other than” the two, Kerry’s boat in the lead. “I grabbed a hold of the boat’s scrabble net on the bow” and started climbing. Because of the shape of the hull, Rassmann was not able to get over the top. Under fire, Kerry ran out of the pilothouse, got down on his hands and knees, reached under the bow and pulled Rassmann aboard. “A lot of things that have been said since then about that incident,” – for instance, that the boat had not been under fire -- have “been shown to be fabrications.”

Rassmann believes that the problem that the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and other Kerry critics have has nothing to do with the way Kerry performed his duty in Vietnam. It has to do with “the fact that John … spoke out against [the war and] the Nixon administration’s policies” saying that “American troops had admitted to committing atrocities.”

Certain Vietnam veterans have called Kerry a traitor. Rassmann stated, “Kerry didn’t commit treason. [He] exercised his First Amendment right to criticize our government.” Kerry said that American servicemen were committing war crimes. “He didn’t say that all of them were, like some people would have you believe. He quoted people who had talked to him and told him what they had done themselves. He talked about things he knew about firsthand. He talked about what he had done in regard to free fire zones.”

“We have books [written by] people that have spent years researching all of this and they say to a man that these acts were going on.” Kerry did what needed to be done.

Rassmann spoke about a young MP named Darby who had worked at Abu Ghraib Prison in Baghdad. Analogous of Kerry’s speech before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Darby had made a copy of the CD containing photographs of prisoner abuse. He slipped it, subsequently, under the door of an investigator charged with uncovering evidence of alleged abuse. Darby’s house and that of his sister have been vandalized. “Terrible things have been said about him in print … Is he a traitor? If you believe he is a traitor, you’re in the wrong country,” Rassmann forthrightly declared.

Last week a group of retired senior officers criticized the investigations about prisoner abuse thus far completed. They said that the findings are essentially “a cover-up.” They say that there is such a thing as command responsibility. About the president’s conduct of the Iraq War, Rassmann stated that “George Bush is directing things for political reasons. And it’s to our detriment. We have 140,000 people over there, and every single one of them is either our son, our daughter, our brother or sister, our father or mother, and we’re responsible for them. The only way we can effect that responsibility is when we vote on Nov. 2.”

Answering questions from individuals in the audience, Rassmann discussed the incident that earned Kerry the Silver Star. An enemy soldier had fired a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) at Kerry’s boat, wounding a crewman. Kerry drove the boat into the bank and chased after, fired at, and killed the retreating soldier. Rassmann explained that an RPG “has to go a certain distance before it becomes armed.” Acting as he did, Kerry had denied the enemy soldier that distance, thereby saving his boat and the lives of his crewmen.

The Swift Boat Veterans for Truth have lied about that incident, too. They “know that John Kerry lied. [But] none of them were there.”

Former Special Forces friends have told Rassmann that the Republican opposition has targeted him. “People are seeking any possible way … to discredit me.” People looking for discrepancies in what he says have followed him from presentation to presentation. He has been accused of being gay. They have claimed that “Teresa Kerry has paid me a lot of money to do this for John Kerry.” The latest accusation is that thirty-five years ago he and Kerry agreed to “scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours,” in other words, that he agreed to put in for Kerry’s citation and Kerry to put in for Rassmann’s purple heart.

Rassmann is understandably angry about the lying. He is additionally upset that people are “not working harder to learn about what’s going on. … They don’t seem to care. A lot of them have made up their minds already. You talk to them and it doesn’t seem to me that they know the issues. We have so few people who read the paper anymore. They get their news from these sound bites on TV and they seem to be perfectly happy with doing that.”

At the beginning of his presentation, Rassmann said that he had toured the Events Center parking lot looking for Bush/Cheney bumper stickers. He had been hopeful that there would be “Bush fans” present for him to attempt to persuade. As this gentlemanly veteran sees it, we are “all in this boat together and the boat is the United States and it is very important that we come to some decision based on a dialogue, or a debate, or even an argument, if you will. I’d hate to be preaching to the choir.”

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The Siuslaw News printed an account of the event September 18. I was very displeased with it. I had expected my long article to be edited but not the way it was. Additions, based (I am assuming) from information provided the newspaper by other people who had attended, were made that I considered unnecessary. The newspaper was careless about its use of quotation marks. Some of the sentences – attempts to paste together statements that I wrote – were clumsy. I especially disliked the newspaper article’s ending. I told Betty Crooks that I was thankful that my name had not been attached.