Mallard Fillmore and Why My "Red Is Up."

It's hard enough to read Morgantown's Dominion-Post these days, now that they have added Michelle Malkin as a columnist, in addition to Cal Thomas, both flame-throwing fascists, calling themselves "conservatives." They also run Bruce Tinsley's "Mallard Fillmore" on their editorial page every day. It just "gets my red up" as my new hero, Trae Crowder, likes to say. Last week, I had enough of Tinsley and wrote a letter to the paper. They haven't published it yet, and I was going to wait until Sunday to see if they found room. They usually do publish my letters, eventually.

There was a letter today from Pastor Terry Hagedorn, of Calvary Baptist Church in Reedsville, West Virginia. Reedsville is located fifteen miles southeast of Morgantown, in Preston County. It had a population of 593 as of 2010, and is 98.5% white according to the census. Pastor Hagedorn's letter is about the football player who won't stand for the Star-Spangled Banner.. He claims racism is in the past. He would know, living in a virtually all-white community in a rural area.

I'm so angry about what goes on politically, especially here in West Virginia, but nationally as well. I protested last week at Mylan Pharmaceuticals' factory a few blocks from our house,After lobbying to have Epi-Pens in all the schools, they raised the price from under $100 for a pack of two to $600. The CEO raised her own pay from five million to sixteen million. I also marched with WVU's Black Students' Union and NAACP  to protest targeting of African-American males by some policemen.

Yesterday, both the Morgantown and Charleston newspapers ran a two-page ad from the CEO of Dominion Gas about why workers were locked out in a labor dispute. The dispute is because the company, highly profitable, wants to eliminate retirement and pension benefits for new hires.

The West Virginia Chamber of Commerce invited the Democratic and Republican candidates for Governor to their annual conference. The Chamber has previously lauded the Republicans in our state for cutting business taxes, eliminating prevailing wage, and implementing "right-to-work" which means no one has to pay union dues, even though the union is still obligated to represent all workers. This is the kind of thing Republicans like, but our Democratic candidate, Jim Justice, attended this conference and said he is with the Chamber of Commerce. And our Democratic candidate for Attorney General, Doug Reynolds, voted for a "religious freedom" bill in the Legislature this year, which would have allowed discrimination against LGBT people. He also voted for a twenty-week abortion ban, which passed, and wants to continue to defy Federal guidelines allowing transgender people to use the restroom that fits their identity. He introduced a bill in the Legislature to demand that West Virginia colleges and universities allow concealed weapons on campus. Justice and Reynolds are the Democrats. The Republicans are worse.

Back to Mallard Fillmore. In last Thursday's cartoon, August 31, Tinsley shows Hillary Clinton saying "...And if you think being gay is a crime... or that women are chattel... or that Jews are vermin... Donald Trump is such a bigot... (new balloon) ... that he doesn't want you to come to his country.!" There is a pic of Trump.

Here's my response:

"Bruce Tinsley, in his cartoon "Mallard Fillmore," is often offensive. His cartoon published Wednesday, August 31, hits a new low. As a Jew, a gay man, and the son and brother of women, I feel compelled to speak about this. Although Tinsley does not explicitly say it is Muslims Trump plans to keep out of the United States, the meaning is obvious from the context and from Trump's own statements.

The Republican Party has never been any kind of friend to gay people. At the National Religious Liberties Conference in Des Moines last November,Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal, all contenders for the Republican nomination for President, appeared with Kevin Swanson, a pastor who has called for the death penalty for gay people. just not yet, but when America embraces the "one true religion." It's not Muslims I'm afraid of. Republican politicians, including Donald Trump, claim they will overturn same-gender marriage.. They have opposed every kind of law proposed to give LGBT people equal rights in employment and housing.

Locally, Republican legislators have supported "Religious freedom" bills that allow discrimination against LGBT people for allegedly religious reasons. It is not the Islamic community that has asked for these laws. The Dominion-Post often publishes hate-filled letters aimed at LGBT people, sometimes signed "Pastor."

Jewish journalists who have covered the Trump campaign have been bombarded with anti-Jewish memes and threatened with death by Trump supporters. Trump's comments to and about women have been ugly and stupid.

I have attended interfaith meetings which have included Islamic, Christian and Jewish leaders. One of these, called to support resettling Syrian refugees in the United States, attracted several hundred people, of many religious faiths, right here in Morgantown. After the shootings at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, the Islamic Association of West Virginia issued a statement in support of the gay community,

Maybe your newspaper hasn't noticed, but there is a large Islamic community here in Morgantown, and to allow someone to smear that entire community is despicable. As the only local daily paper in town, you should know better. "


I ran for office to change the political culture of West Virginia. Between Donald Trump's wide-support here, the greed-based oil, gas and pharmaceutical industries located here, and the Chamber of Commerce that they support, and a Democratic Party that lost control of the state by not standing for anything substantive, and whose leadership continues to block progressives from power, I'm not sure their is hope for this state.


It may be hopeless, but I support Charlotte Pritt and Michael Sharley of The Mountain Party for Governor and Attorney General respectively in the upcoming election. And I will continue to protest greed-based corporations in favor of workers and the environment. And yes, I support Colin Kaepernick's right to protest by not standing for "The Star-Spangled Banner."