Mash Notes, Hate Mail & Other Correspondence

Year’s Most Miserable Day Allegedly Coming Soon

[Note: As readers may well imagine, we are bombarded daily with all sorts of pitches from myriad PR outfits trying to somehow make a buck out of this dog-eat-dog economy. In most cases these pitches are dismissed before we finish reading the subject line. “Such-and-Such Computing Inc. Submits Application for Nasdaq Uplisting.” Yes, we’ll get right on that. Today, though, we got one that spoke our language: “New Hampshire’s Most Miserable Day of the Year Forecast for January 8th 2021.” Naturally, this being the good old U.S.A., and PR being PR, a certain cheery optimism was evident throughout. – The Ed.] “After an incredibly challenging …

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No Labels? No Thanks!

To the Editor: I may feel better about our Nation than you do and it has nothing to do with Biden or Trump. On Tuesday evening we heard from Republican and Democratic U.S. House members about how they have been working together as No Labels Problem Solvers. We heard stories of Republican and Democratic friendships, helping colleagues from the other party and losing committee positions for siding with principle over party. The House members were joined by Republican and Democratic U.S. Senate allies and other prominent bi-partisan leaders. In these divided times, one would think knowing that Democrats and Republicans are traveling through the center …

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Flotsam & Jetsam

“Every reader of the Dreiser novels must cherish astounding specimens—of awkward, platitudinous marginalia, of whole scenes spoiled by bad writing, of phrases so brackish as so many lumps of sodium hyposulfite. Here and there, as in parts of The Titan and again in parts of A Hoosier Holiday, an evil conscience seems to haunt him and he gives hard striving to his manner, and more than once there emerges something that is almost graceful. But a backsliding always follows this phosphoresce of reform.” – H. L. Mencken, A Book of Prefaces (1917) –=≈=–  “It is ridiculous to seek to excuse Robert [E.] Lee as the …

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We May Survive Inept Sedition, But…

Dear Editor: “Incitement of discontent or rebellion against a government, or any action (especially in speech or writing) promoting such discontent or rebellion.” That is Webster’s least complicated definition of sedition and what, in my modest opinion, the President of the United States, 18 states attorney generals, at least 126 Congressmen and women, and a multitude of enablers who eagerly signed on to Trump’s ill-advised, short-sighted, half-baked and very, very dangerous endeavor to overturn a free and fair election, are guilty of. Armed only with consistently debunked conspiracy theories, unsubstantiated and frivolous allegations of wide-spread voter fraud and the shock of having to accept the …

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Dear Mr. President…

[The following is an open letter, pruned somewhat by the alleged editor. In order to better preserve the author’s voice, and to forestall a likely rebellion from the 100 Proof Department, it has not been proofread. – The Ed.] Mr. President: …I Sir am but “A Poor Dumb Yankee Fool,” who is married to “A Vivacious Southern Belle!” I am also a man who trusts in the integrity of the human soul and “Our American Ideology!” So if that makes me bad, then so be it, as I will just have live with that! When however, small elements of my own government let their own …

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Embracing Ecological Realism

by Robert C. Koehler Our post-election hope couldn’t be more fragile. Does Joe Biden see his mission as merely reclaiming “situation normal” from Donald Trump? How aware is he of the big, beyond-our-lifetimes future and the crucial need to address climate change? Is he able to acknowledge that human interests go well beyond national borders? And if so, how much political traction would he have to have before he could begin turning vision into policy? A recent bit of news: The House just voted overwhelmingly in favor of the 2021 Pentagon budget: $740.5 billion. The vote was 335-78. More Democrats than Republicans gave it their …

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