Voting Guide Not Nonpartisan
Now that the shouting has died down, my wife and I would like to publicly thank Bishop McDonnell for making sure that the “nonpartisan” 2010 Massachusetts General Election Voter Guide from the Massachusetts Family Institute was distributed at the holy sacrifice of the Mass in our local Roman Catholic Church just in the nick of time for election day. With this guide, we were better prepared to vote for governor and Congressman.
After reading it, we soon realized that the MFI’s guide was in no way nonpartisan. On the contrary, its only purpose was to target Deval Patrick and John Olver for defeat. The guide carried candidates’ answers to eight questions on what the MFI considers to be the critical issues of the day. Most of these were phrased in the “have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife-yet?” tradition. Five were about sexual identity or sexual behavior. Have these people not heard of the state-wide recession?
We followed the Internet links listed on the guide to the MFI’s web site, where we learned more about the public policy positions of the MFI and their president, Kris Mineau. We learned on their website that they’re convinced that “….homosexuality and same-sex marriage are being affirmed and taught in our public schools.” This extreme and uninformed position explains much about why Patrick and Olver were being targeted by the anti-gay, anti-free choice, anti-sex education lobbyists of the MFI. Naturally, as responsible voting citizens, my wife and I appreciate all efforts to help us make the right choices, however misguided, even if they appear in places they would not seem to be appropriate—like church pews. No doubt the Bishop meant only to test whether we were paying attention in church.
Robert M. Kelly and Mary T. Kelly
Lee
Find the True Center
Robert Reich [“Oh No, Not Again!“, November 4, 2010] and every politician who does not listen to both sides of every issue is doing a disservice to America. A true politician can bring together each side, Democrat, Republican, Tea Party, Green Party, etc. so that any government action has the interests and desires of all Americans. Thus being “center” will benefit all Americans. Remember, Democrats do not have all the answers. Republicans do not have all the answers. Tea Party and Green Party followers do not have all the answers. Only when you bring everyone together will our country move forward. Otherwise we will continue to have elitists (such as Reich and Obama) running the show and little will get accomplished that will benefit the majority.
President Obama won with only 52.9 percent, which clearly shows a lot of people (47.1 percent) disagreed with his views. Thus, to force any issue onto the American public for which nearly half disagree is not in the best interest of all Americans. Clearly we have many politicians, Reich included, who forgot those other Americans and don’t care about those who disagree with them because Reich and many politicians are elitists with their heads in the clouds.
Jerry Franklin
via Internet
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Wal-Mart, Local Hero?
Phil Korman’s comment [“Wal-Mart, Local Hero?“, October 28, 2010] that Wal-Mart’s incursion into local food is an “interesting, complicated issue” has got to be the understatement of the year!
Wal-Mart is doing a better job these days addressing two of the three “pillars” of sustainable agriculture: environmental quality and economic vitality. My concern is in the area that often gets overlooked: social equity. I’ve written about this at http://world.edu/content/walmarts-version-sustainable-agriculture-sustainable/. As Korman states, Wal-Mart doesn’t have a social mission. It doesn’t have to. But before we celebrate the news that they are supporting sustainable agriculture, I think we need to think a bit more deeply about the potential social implications of Wal-Mart “commodifying” local food.
John Gerber
via Internet
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Support Paycheck Fairness
I strongly urge Senator Scott Brown to stand with moms in supporting the federal Paycheck Fairness Act [S 3772, scheduled to reach the Senate floor Nov. 17]. In 1963, President Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act. But even with that law in place, the wage gap has been narrowing by less than half a percent a year. That means the pay gap won’t close until 2057, when my now four-year-old daughter will be turning 50! We can’t wait that long. In this tough economy we need Congress to move swiftly to pass this important legislation. Women make up over half the workforce in America and many of those women are mothers. Moms need this legislation to help them support their families and remove the bias they face in the workplace.
Marianne Bullock
Greenfield, momsrising.org
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Frills? At Jake’s?
Life is change, people…and instead of complaining about the replacement art that had to be installed, how about giving a thumbs up to a feisty 28-year old who has worked seven days a week since taking the place over to keep the place running? What about supporting local business? How about asking the new owner about the changes before tossing in your two bits? Oh, and that all-important item any eatery should be concerned with…yeah, the food.
I was born in Northampton, cried over Bambi and fell in love with Elvis at the Calvin, drank my root beer at Woolworth’s and lived at Look Park all summer. Jake’s couldn’t be in better hands. Change? It’s a part of life. Celebrate it by giving credit where it’s due.
D. Louise Nicholson
via Internet
Growing up in “‘Hamp” was awesome! Getting down to basics, what makes us feel like it’s home is places like Jake’s. Why does everything have to change? Jake’s has thrived with its no-frills dining, but now there are neon signs and computer aided servers! We don’t need frills, we just need down-home cooking and a good conversation. Please don’t become “one of them”; if we want frills, we can go to Denny’s, but we would rather stay near home.
Mary Wiseman
via Internet
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Briefly noted: Air, water, public lands; culture and its repositories, such as libraries; scientific discoveries that promote the common good; these are the commons, the resources we share and to which we should all have equal access. This Land Is Our Land: The Fight to Reclaim the Commons, a new film from the Northampton-based Media Education Foundation, deals what its co-author David Bollier calls “the epic struggle between the marketplace and the commons”—attempts by market forces to take what belongs to the public and sell it back for profit (see “The Things We Have in Common,” November 4, 2010).
This Land Is Our Land will be shown on Sunday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m. at Amherst Cinema, 28 Amity St., Amherst. The event is a benefit for the Food Bank of Western Mass. It will include a question-and-answer session with Bollier, who narrates the film, and Sut Jhally, executive director of the MEF, who co-directed the film with Jeremy Earp. “This Land is Our Land” was produced by Earp and Andrew Killoy. For information, go to www.amherstcinema.org, or call 413-253-2547.
