Columbian - wacko letters should be axed

Columbian Editor Lou Brancaccio writes that Letters to the Editor should be opinions. Sounds good. But when letters contain obviously erroneous opinions stated as if they were fact, most reputable newspapers won’t publish them.

The New York Times, for example, fact checks every letter.

Not the Columbian – nearly every day they print a letter with some ridiculous unfounded assertion.

A wingnut named Jock Demme wrote a letter last week, “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder” that is a prime example of the balderdash they accept for publication. He lists 13 pieces of “evidence” as if he were quoting from some liberal position paper. Among the most outrageous: “Liberals want to teach children sexual deviance and ignore American history.” “Liberals believe children are acceptable sexual targets for sexual predators.”

I’ve never met a single liberal who holds these beliefs. And I bet Demme hasn’t either. He’s just spouting Coulter or Limbaugh. The trouble is - some folks take the letters as fact.

This is not reasoned discourse and has no place in a community paper.

Maria Cantwell - Rising in my esteem

Last week she voted against the noxious GOP tax package that tried to slide an estate tax repeal by the Senate by coating the pill with a raise in the minimum wage. But even that cookie was poisoned for Democrats because it voided state laws which protect workers who get tips from having their wages reduced because of tip potential. Washington is one of the states that protects such service workers.

She was down here last week talking to local labor groups about this... I was there.

She also came right out and backed Ned Lamont after he won the CT primary over the smarmy Joe Lieberman. Her opponent, former Safeco CEO gazillionaire, Mike McGavick sucked up to Joe, as so many Republicans are doing right now. Evidently the lonely Republican in that race is being left to flap in the breeze. Joe should just move right over and BE a Republican. But no, "for the sake of my party [sic]" he is running as an independent. Gecccchhh, what a creep.

Judgeships - the new Republican stealth strategy

Back out at the County Fair again. The Republican booth is still pushing judicial candidates with more vigor than their Senatorial and congressional candidates.

Come to discover that state law says that if a judicial candidate wins a majority of votes in the primary, the race is over and the winner becomes a judge without going on to the Nov. election. The primary is September 19 and most voters don't really notice the judicial candidates, just checking ones whose names have the best sound, or whatever. It's hard to find campaign info on judicial races so ignorance is easy.

Judicial races are supposed to be non-partisan, but the Reps are spending LOTS of money to unseat the incumbents (Susan Owens, Gerry Alexander, Tom Chambers, and Joel Penoyer - all of whom are experienced and well-respected for fairness) and put in people with either fundamentalist religious views or strong property rights/anti-regulation views.

Brent Boger, who is running against Penoyer, was formerly the chair of the county Republican party and is given a high five by Judicial Forum... who are they???

The mission of the Judicial Forum is to review the activities of the judges and attorneys and report how they measure up to Biblical civil law (the foundation of our nation), the Constitution (the supreme law of the land) and the statutes that are lawful (to interpret what is written). Read more . . .

Bible Verse: PSA 119:139 [NIV]
My zeal wears me out, for my enemies ignore Your words.

What else can I say?

Here's the Republican booth...

I strolled by the Republican booth to see what they were promoting. The biddy behind the counter spouted the original Rove talking point: like she’d made it up herself: “We gotta re-elect Republicans because they’re keeping us safe from the terrorists. We’re fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them here at home.”

I noticed that she was wearing a big sticker – not for a senator or state rep but for a JUDGE and that the brochures on the front table leaned heavily towards the State judicial races – conservative Supreme Court candidates John Groen (darling of the building industry) and Stephen Johnson. And Brent Boger (former chair of the CC Republicans) for the state Court of Appeals.

Judicial elections are SUPPOSED to be non-partisan!!

When she saw me looking at the brochures, she whispered conspiratorially that these guys believed in upholding the constitution, not like those “activist judges” who want to let gays marry. Since their new stealth tactic is to take over the courts with their right-wing ideologues we’d better start promoting the incumbents who are simply fair-minded.

Oh, and that big manifesto on the right is What Republicans Believe. Stuff like the dignity of every person regardless of age, race, religion or gender... (no mention of sexual orientation or economic status...) Bunch of hypocritical twaddle. I'll read it more closely when I go back Thursday. 

Staffing the Dem Fair Booth

The usual underdressed and overweight crowd is at the Fair this weekend -- youth with hardware, burly men in muscle shirts, moms trying to steer bus-sized strollers laden with a couple of toddlers plus large stuffed animals (prizes?), balloons, diaper bags, shopping bags. A bunch of older people in wheelchairs who look like they ate themselves into immobility.

Our booth is in a fine spot – on a corner right by one of the main doors to the new exhibit hall, so you’d think folks would see us, but no. Most streamed by in a daze, not registering our presence at all – much less positively or negatively. Enough folks stopped to give us a thumbs up – and even sign up to be volunteers – that we felt our time was worthwhile. And not to have been there, when the Republicans were, would have made observant Dems wonder what was wrong with us if we couldn’t even get it together to show up at the Fair…

The gal selling a $259 vacuum-pack system in the booth across from us was having a slow day too. She says that weekend fair-goers are zonked from working all week - that weekday visitors are much more alert. She’s been doing the fiar circuit for several years and says that this is the worst year ever for vendors. “Nobody’s buying,” she said. “Folks tell me they just don’t have any spare cash these days. Other vendors say the same thing. I tell them, that's what you get for electing a president who is more concerned with rescuing his rich buddies from estate tax than giving the middle class a chance to make a living!”

Democratic Booth at the County Fair

Several party loyalists including me have spent the past few days setting up our booth at the annual county fair. It's an old-fashioned kinda red-neck affair - we're in the new (air-conditioned!!!) exhibit hall along with the Veg-e-Matic and Waterless Cookware demos, the hot-tub and patio furniture booth, the vitamins and miracle cleaner booths, and....

ssss... the Republican booth, which looks like a patriotic orgasm - so much red-white and blue bunting. I'll take a picture and post it when I go back on Sunday.

They posted a long statement: "What Republicans believe" that is such hypocritic twaddle (dignity and rights of all regardless of age, sex, nationality etc...). Right.

The good news is that several folks stopped by the booth (security guards, other booth operators, etc) and said things like, "We gotta get rid of those Republicans". Yepper, that's why we're doing it.

Bicycle!

As of today, I've traded the car keys in for a helmet. Going two-wheeled in my post-"Inconvenient Truth", fervor.