Mash Notes, Hate Mail & Other Correspondence

To the Editor: Sit in on any high school debate class and you’ll quickly learn that using personal attack to undermine your opponent’s argument is catamount to admitting defeat. It’s considered the strategy of last resort and will cost you points every time. Thank goodness such academic nonsense doesn’t apply to the adult world of political discourse. If it did, those of us who favor democracy over autocracy might never learn that our belief makes us godless blood-sucking baby molesters who hate America! Absent a coherent party platform, the Republican vision for America’s future has two basic elements. First, they promise to reinstate a dangerously …

Read moreThe GOP Plan for America

To the Editors: What was the big kerfuffle over the “Christmas Tree” fire in front of the Fox building in New York all about? You would think, listening to Fox “News” personnel, that it was an apocalypse—a 36-hour, uninterrupted breaking-news event. But it was just a short, relatively small, confined blaze, set by a deranged arsonist, who perhaps had a dislike for a fake, wannabe-tree, erected instead of a real tree. After all, what burned was just a wire frame that had some greens and ornaments attached to it—not a real tree at all. If it had been a real tree, it would have been …

Read moreThe War On Fox’s Fake Christmas Tree

To the Editor: Given his troublesome vote, Senator Joe Manchin must want a Build Back Cheaper Bill. But that attitude fails because big problems demand big solutions. When our Revolutionary ancestors faced the world’s fiercest nation, they shouted, “Give me liberty or give me death,” not “Give me liberty unless it’s too pricy.” We would have failed to defeat the Nazi threat if we tried to fight on the cheap. War is costly but our ancestors faced a stark choice: pay now, or pay more later. They paid because they faced clear and present dangers. The price of victory is high, but the price of …

Read moreWe Need the Build Back Better Bill

To the Editor: In late October I went to a concert at Merrill Auditorium in Portland, Maine. To get in you had to show proof of vaccination. Masks were required full time. I felt very safe. The next night I went to a show at St. Anselm in Manchester. Vaccines were not required nor were masks in the concert hall. People acted like it was 2019. I won’t be back there no matter who is playing. It is no wonder, in New England, New Hampshire has the most Covid deaths and infections by population and is last in vaccinations. The governor and the GOP controlled …

Read moreGive Priority to the Majority

Dear Editor, Trump lost the election. As a narcissist, his greatest fear is being seen as a loser. So he built a wall of denial around himself, contending that the election was rigged. His minions brought case after case before judge after judge; all were thrown out for lack of evidence. Nevertheless, his fragile ego compels him to cower behind his Big Lie. Initially, Republicans in authority dismissed Trump’s denial, offering to give him time to get over it. But as the Big Lie reverberated throughout rightwing media, they saw hardcore followers embracing it. Republicans now realize that fostering the stolen election falsehood gives them …

Read moreDeath Watch for Democracy