Mash Notes, Hate Mail & Other Correspondence

by James A. Haught For millennia, it was considered normal for strong tribes to conquer, pillage and subjugate weaker ones. After Macedonia annexed Ancient Greece, Alexander the Great launched a conquest machine that dominated much of the known world. Soon afterward, the Roman Empire spread via military force as far as the British Isles. Eventually, associated with his desire to gain battle victories, Constantine was the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. After Islam developed, holy warriors spread the faith into Asia and across North Africa, up into France. Then the Golden Horde of Genghis Khan entered Europe as far as Poland. War became …

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Dear Editor, Can a minority party, intent on supporting partisan corruption by repeating the Big Lie as gospel, win future elections? Yes, if they limit the Democratic Majority’s votes with 253 “election reform” laws, being proposed in 29 states. The proposals would limit voting by mail, reduce voting days, and enable legislatures to select Electoral College electors irrespective of the popular vote count. To thwart this preparation to steal the next election, the For The People act protects our fair voting system. It will pass in the House, but to pass in the Senate, the Dems must end the filibuster to enable a simple majority …

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To the Editor: Each state goes through the process of redistricting every ten years, based on the census data. This process is supposed to ensure that every citizen is properly represented, regardless of political party, but politicians play with boundary lines to try to win state and federal elections. The New Hampshire Republican Party, which currently has a small majority in Concord, has been outright shameful about it this year. WMUR quoted GOP State Chair Steve Stepanek openly bragging, “…we control redistricting,” he said. “I can stand here today and guarantee you that we will send a conservative Republican to Washington, D.C. as a Congress …

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“The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.” – James D. Nicoll –=≈=– “The Natives of New England are accustomed to build them houses, much like the wild Irish, they gather Poles in the woodes and put the great end of them in the ground, placinge them in forme of a circle or circumference, and bendinge the topps of them in forme of an Arch, they bind …

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By Betty Tamposi and Dan Weeks In a democratic republic like the United States, voters are meant to choose their politicians, not the other way around. Like many of our fellow Granite Staters, we take this bedrock principle of free and fair elections personally. One of us served for years as a Republican leader in the N.H. House of Representatives and later as an Assistant Secretary of State under President George H.W. Bush. The other was a Democratic nominee for Executive Council (raised in a long line of Republican elected officials) and led the nonpartisan group Open Democracy. Although we do not agree on every …

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by Rivera Sun A continent-wide snow storm swept across the United States last month. From Seattle to Baton Rouge and from Dallas to Minneapolis, people grappled with road closures, shutdowns, power outages, and freezing temperatures. From sea to shining sea, ordinary people stepped up to take care of one another. My brother volunteered to snowblow the Seattle offices of an autism support center. A colleague in Portland, Oregon, posted warnings not to walk under the snapping, ice-laden branches of city trees. Friends in West Virginia popped back online to make sure everyone was fine after three days without Internet. When Texas megachurches refused to shelter …

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