Senator Brown's Election

Senator Brown’s Election

Listen, my children, come here, sit down,

I’ll tell you the story of Senator Brown

On the nineteenth of January in Twenty-ten

Hardly a man watched CNN

For election results, from town to town

Brown said to the voters, “When the Dems try to pass

Their Health Care reform with plenty of tax

I’ll say ‘No, don’t pit class against class’

I will vote to give this bill the axe!

They want your money and they want control

But I and the opposite side have a goal

To kill legislation that will cause harm

To every American city and farm.

For my country, I’ve proven I’m willing to arm.”

Then, Brown said, “Good night” and was wished “Good luck”

So he drove away in his GM truck

Just as his poll numbers rose over Coakley’s

Whose thug swung wide at reporters’ knees

And who couldn’t spell the name of her state;

Though she thought vacations were just great

To shake hands at Fenway? – A Horrid Fate!

And her huge ego, that was magnified

By her own impression of her mind.

Meanwhile, the President, her ally, effete

Waited and watched with poll-driven ears

Till in the tanking numbers he hears

Pleading for help at the Barack door

The sound of “Stop!” and the tramp of feet

And the measured tread of the Tea Partiers

Marched on to their congressmen’s floor

Then they climbed up the steps of their state capitols

By the concrete stairs, with purposeful tread

The citizens to their elected pled

And startled the leaders, who summoned their trolls,

With snarky laughter they mocked and sneered

At these masses, whose purpose never veered

“Protect the Constitution, steep and grand

The highest authority in the land.”

Brown paused.  He listened.  He didn’t look down.

A moment in history for every town.

The conservative flames he fanned….

So, in his truck rode this good man, Scott

And with shady deals he couldn’t be bought

To every American the lesson’s been taught

“Defy with your vote, neglect it not"

A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,

Four words that shall echo for evermore!

For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,

Through all our history, to the last

In the hour of darkness and peril and need

The people will vote in every town

“It’s The People’s Seat” will be their creed

That’s the lasting message of Senator Brown.

Paul Revere's Ride

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

---

Listen my children and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend, "If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch Of the North Church tower as a signal light,-- One if by land, and two if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and farm, For the country folk to be up and to arm." Then he said "Good-night!" and with muffled oar Silently rowed to the Charlestown shore, Just as the moon rose over the bay, Where swinging wide at her moorings lay The Somerset, British man-of-war; A phantom ship, with each mast and spar Across the moon like a prison bar, And a huge black hulk, that was magnified By its own reflection in the tide. Meanwhile, his friend through alley and street Wanders and watches, with eager ears, Till in the silence around him he hears The muster of men at the barrack door, The sound of arms, and the tramp of feet, And the measured tread of the grenadiers, Marching down to their boats on the shore. Then he climbed the tower of the Old North Church, By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread, To the belfry chamber overhead, And startled the pigeons from their perch On the sombre rafters, that round him made Masses and moving shapes of shade,-- By the trembling ladder, steep and tall, To the highest window in the wall, Where he paused to listen and look down A moment on the roofs of the town And the moonlight flowing over all…. . So through the night rode Paul Revere; And so through the night went his cry of alarm To every Middlesex village and farm,--- A cry of defiance, and not of fear, A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door, And a word that shall echo for evermore! For, borne on the night-wind of the Past, Through all our history, to the last, In the hour of darkness and peril and need, The people will waken and listen to hear The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed, And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

Sponsor Contact Information

I generally don't participate in letter writing campaigns, boycotts, etc. But I have 16 letters on my desk right now, ready to be mailed to the board members of Mars, Kelloggs and Olive Garden. I'm taking the advice from the hillbuzz website, and I'll try to send out a letter each day to each of those board members until they withdraw their sponsorship of the Letterman show.

I've saved each letter in a file, so I'm planning on only changing the date each day and printing them off and sending them. Maybe I'll occasionally reword them. I'm sending them via regular mail. FedEx would be way too cost prohibitive.

The Hillbuzz site originally formed to back Hillary Clinton. I became aware of it closer to the election because of it's strong support of Sarah Palin. I just finished reading an article there on the difference between Republicans and Democrats, and the fact that Republicans back down way too quickly. Right now, CBS is telling its sponsors that this will all blow over quickly.

Maybe it will, maybe it won't. Maybe there are enough conservatives who are tired of being bullied by the main stream media, and they're willing to fight back.

Here is some contact information for some of Letterman's sponsors, as compiled by http://www.hillbuzz.org/:*

KELLOGGS COMPANY
One Kellogg Square
PO Box 3599
Battle Creek, MI 49016-3599
(269) 961-2000
(800) 962-1413

Write to these 6 people over and over and over again:
(1) James M. Jenness – Chairman of the Board
(2) A.D. David Mackay – President and CEO
(3) John A. Bryant – COO and CFO
(4) Mark R. Baynes – VP and CMO
(5) Brian S. Rice – SVP, CIO
(6) Gary H. Pilnick – SVP, General Counsel, Corporate Development and Secretary

UPDATE: MARS CANDY is owned exclusively by the Mars family. John Franklyn Mars is the company Chairman.
Products include: 3 Musketeers, Combos, Dove chocolate, Kudos, Mars Bar, Milky Way, Skittles, Snickers, Starburst, Twix, and Whiscas cat food

Write to these 2 people over and over again:
Chairman: John Franklyn Mars
President and CEO: Paul S. Michaels

MARS, Inc.
6885 Elm Street
McClean Virginia 22101-3810
(703) 821-4900
FAX: 703-448-9678


THE OLIVE GARDEN CONTACT INFORMATION:

Write to these 8 people over and over again
(1) Clarence J. Otis — Chairman/CEO
(2) Andrew H. Madsen — President/COO
(3) David T. Pickens — Senior VP
(4) Brad Richmond — CFO
(5) Valerie K. Collins — Corporate Controller
(6) Bob McAdam — SVP Government and Community Affairs
(7) Gene Lee – President Special Restaurant Group
(8) Paula J. Shives — General Counsel and Secretary

Darden Restaurants Office (address for all above):
5900 Lake Ellenor Drive
Orlando, FL 32809
(407) 245-4000

*I would recommend that parents check over this website before their children

Sarah And Me

I think to understand why this whole Letterman thing is bothering me, I need to take a step back and explain how Palin's candidacy and her subsequent treatment by the media affected me.

My mother is a staunch Democrat. I think my dad had Democrat leanings, but he didn't talk about politics as much. So growing up, and through my college years, I considered myself a liberal. I would watch the news and it generally concurred with my beliefs. Therefore, I knew I was smart. If other people would just be as smart and caring as me, they'd be liberals, too. It really seemed that simple. I despised Reagan, and couldn't understand how he could have been elected, twice.

I can remember in 1988 I voted for Al Gore in the primaries because he was the only Dem who identified himself as pro-life. (I would probably be hard pressed to find any evidence now that he had taken that position then) I voted for Dukakis in the general election, but I was surprised to find myself relieved that Bush had won. That election was the turning point. The abortion issue, combined with the fact that I had an actual job, (working with prisoners who were, surprisingly, not just misunderstood but actually deserving of their punishment) pushed me squarely into the Republican camp by the 1992 election.

So, as a liberal I did not understand the appeal of Reagan. As a conservative, I have always considered the Clintons hollow, willing to sell their souls for a few votes. I voted for G.W. twice, because he was the best option. I'm certain he did a better job than Gore or Kerry would have done, and I'm thankful he had the guts to take unpopular stands in the interest of keeping my family safe. However, there are number of ways that he disappointed me.

This is all to say that I had never felt a strong connection to a politician. While I can admire McCain's courage fighting for our country, as a candidate I was less than enthusiastic about him. I had not decided if I was even going to vote in the election. When he picked Sarah Palin, I was ecstatic. Finally, someone I could relate to.

She's my age. She values her family. She has a strong marriage. She's pro-life. She had the kind of college education I had. She worked for everything she had.

Sarah Palin was me. The connection was immediate and total. Finally, someone who represented me. Someone who could relate to me and to the kind of life I lead. I felt on top of the world. For about a week.

And then they tore into her and her family. I was new to the world of reading political blogs, and I had never seen anything so vicious in my life. I'm not saying Sarah Palin is perfect, but she certainly did not and does not deserve the attempts at annihilation that the media, the pundits, the comedians, the lazy joke tellers who think they're comedians, have heaped on her.

After the election, I was exhausted. It was more than just having my guy lose the election. It was personal. The attacks against Sarah Palin weren't just attacks against her policies, they were attacks against her person. They were attacks against me.

So, you see, when Mr. Letterman makes jokes about Sarah Palin and her daughters, he's making jokes about me and my daughters.

I remember during the last election (and maybe I've already made this point in a previous post) there was a poll done concerning republicans and democrats, and their attitudes towards each other. Republicans could understand why democrats held their beliefs, but democrats had no such empathy for republicans. Going back to my days as a liberal, I can kind of understand that. I honestly felt it was just a matter of the other guys not being as smart as me. Their viewpoints weren't nearly as enlightened as mine and couldn't possibly be valid.

I'm so glad I grew up.

I believe that the reason there isn't an outcry against Letterman's statements from the feminist community and other liberals in the media is that they've marginalized the Palins to the point where they consider them less than human. Therefore, it's okay to say whatever they want about her, and by extension, me.

And so this is the end of my post-election complacency. I'm still tired, mind you. I'm tired of having my opinions belittled and marginalized. I'm tired of the public discourse being so thoroughly one-sided. I'm tired of people confusing snarks and mean-spiritedness as some kind of deep thinking.

I'm tired and I'm angry.