Hell Yeah!

Vincent Ferro

There's a local agitator named VIncent Ferro, who lately has been organizing anti-choice demonstrations in front of Catholic churches in Poughkeepsie and Newburgh. He and his fellow protesters are demanding that the Church formally deny Congressman John Hall the right to receive Holy Communion because of his support for legal abortion.

We're all entitled to our opinions, and the first amendment ensures Mr. Ferro's right to voice his.

And technically speaking, Mr Ferro has a case, I'd think. Even though Hall doens't practice Catholicism anymore - he attends services at an Episcopal church, as I recall.

So today, I would like to offer to join Mr. Ferro at his next protest. In fact, I will bring as many of my friends as will come, and we can raise the roof on those pro-abortion politicians!

There's one condition, though.

Mr. Ferro has to agree to add Rudy Giuliani to his protest.

I'm sure that won't be a problem. I'm sure Mr. Ferro is driven by principle, not partisanship, so including another protector-of-choice to his list will not pose a problem, right?

Then Mr. Ferro can kill two pro-choice birds with one stone!

Giuliani meets Ferro's criteria: he's runnng for president, he supports abortion - he's even been divorced! - and Newburgh and Poughkeepsie are both in Rudy's home Archdiocese.

So what do you say Mr. Ferro?

Willing to add Rudy G to your hit list? Or do you only go after Democrats whose election win still stings?

Zing! You've been Coultered

Anne Coulter says talking about Johnathan Edwards "ends you up in rehab if you use the word faggot".

She seeks to imply that John Edwards is a faggot.

She doesn't mean it in the "today's meaning" context of "fag". Where kids say "you are such a fag" intending to criticize poor taste, but meaning no connection to homosexuals or homsexuality. Yes, "that's so gay" or "you are such a fag" are negative, and have deep roots in broad culturall homophobia, the word seems have been stripped of their power by their commonness and much wider usage.

I went to lunch at the Friar's Club last week, and saw Bill Boggs interview Lisa Lampanelli, the "insult comic". She explained why it's ok for her to say what she says on stage, and it was not ok for Michaell Richards. She said it's all about what's inside when you say it. She can convey to the people that she doesn't hate black people, no matter what her words say. Michael Richards failed to. It seemed clear that he was raising his inside-flag.

Anne Coulter means it in the "old way". She does hate. She hates everybody outside a very narrow demographic (hers), and she uses her sharp teeth to attack any outsider who rises high enough to get her attention.

What I find most ironic is this: the Democratic party is filled with homosexuals, members and leaders. Gay Democrats don't need to hide their identity. They know who they are, "we, the people" know who they are. There are no pretenses, no "family values" litmus tests that, if you fail it, will get you in big trouble. No pedos chasing interns, no male prostitutes staying in Democratic White Houses overnight (remember Jeff Gannon? Just who WAS he visiting in the Bush White House those nights he stayed over? - I'll take Monica over a freak like that any day).

So, Ann Coulter does not need to sneeringly accuse John Edwards of being a "faggot". It is meaningless. Just a partisan attack aimed at getting the rock-solid-supporting Bubbas laughing.

Thing is, Bubba ain't laughing. The "base" they've counted on for so long to support their hate-filled ideology has abandoned them.

Bubba knows he has a hell of a lot more in common with John Edwards. He really, truly, did grow up dirt poor in the South and made himself what he is today - a contender who has NOT forgotten where he came from.

Our president and his ilk (Coulter included) came from Big Money. His common-man gimmick is Academy Award grade acting, but he is a boy raised at the highest levels of privelege, given the best schooling money can buy (in the most Yankee Elite schools in the world). I hear he really doesn't like ranches or horses.

They were bred with the same disdain for the poor (or every creed and color) that a dalmation has for chickens in the road. The dalmation snatches the chicken, shakes it and throws it to the side of the road to make way for the fire wagon. These mega-rich elitists who run the GOP have sort of done the same thing with us.

But the ideology Coulter represents is like the Phase One of Construction hole the dug that never got filled with foundation. It did fill with runoff, rusted cars and shopping carts. There are snakes, and currents to catch your ankle and drag you down. It freezes over in winter, but not thick enough for skating. Kids try, and fall through the ice.

It's a sad, pathetic pit.

While it has taken some time, people have learned to stay away from it.

People have learned to stay away from Ann Coulter, too.

She, like the corrupt ideology she shills, is irrelevant. It seems the press hasn't realized this yet.

Oops, we forgot to mention communists...

The Poughkeepsie Journal's Letters to the Editor are an endless source of great writing. They range from insightful to absurd, scathing to silly. There was one in there yesterday (11/2) that just tickled me pink. I laughed aloud in my seat as I read it, the people around me thinking I'd lost my mind. Read on:

Singer-songwriter no expert on energy

John Hall is running for Congress. What are his qualifications? He promises a lot but let's really look at what he has to offer. He wrote two semi-hit, bubble gum songs. When are we going to stop voting actors, pro wrestlers and singers into positions of running our government?

He says he has solutions for building new hydro plants in New York. I guess writing some bubble gum songs makes him an energy expert. Companies that have been producing electricity for years missed all this hydroelectric that one singer saw. His solution for solving Social Security is to make the rich pay more into it. When he makes enough money to stop paying Social Security, does he volunteer to keep paying? John, can you say "hypocrite?"

John wants to close Indian Point, put 1,000 people out of work, raise electric prices, make us more dependent on foreign oil and pollute our air. Hall never mentions how he is going to do this. If, God help us, he gets elected he will be one of 535 members of Congress. He doesn't mention how he will get the majority of Congress to buy into his questionable ideas.

Look at who supports Hall. Pete (the communist) Seeger. I don't want a friend of a communist representing me in Congress.

In closing, I would like to say I am a registered Democrat who will vote and urge my fellow Democrats to vote for Sue Kelly.

Thomas Clegg, Beacon

Communist? Did he really write that? Who worries about communists in this day and age? Has it gotten so bad for Sue Kelly that her shills have to dig so deep into the pathetic-boogeymen garbage can and pull out that stinking bit of trash from the 60s? What's next? Roman sandals? Hippies? Reefer-addicts, the fuzz and groovy?

John Hall knows what he's talking about on the subject of energy. The New York Times in its endorsement of Hall over Kelly even mentioned that Hall knows it well enough to speak about it at length - so don't bring it up unless you have time to listen to the answer.

Clegg's letter completely ignores Hall's record as a legislator and elected school board member. When you compare that to Sue Kelly's boasts about her status as a "former teacher" (she taught for 1/2 of one year at John Jay High School during the 1960s!), Hall is eminently qualified for Congress.

Why do people sneer when they mention Hall as an accomplished musician, and speak as though it's unfortunate he had success as a songwriter?

If his songs are empty "bubblegum" pop trash "semi hits", why are they still in regular rotation on radio stations all over the Hudson Valley. Why do you know all the words?

Why did President Bush himself use Hall's song "Still the One" as his campaign theme song in 2004?

I think the Republicans should spend more time in self-examination exercises. Maybe they can figure out why the family values party that so vigorously strives to deprive gay people of some basic human rights is packed with self-loathing closeted homosexuals.

In a way it makes sense. The Republican "base" has been voting against its own interests for years. They voted to pollute their land, air and water. They voted to raise their gas prices, and they voted to allow farming conglomerates to poison their food. They tithe absurd amounts of their take home pay to preachers, who spend it on methamphetamine and the earthly pleasures of male prostitutes.

Don't be a self-loathing, self-destructive hypocrite. Vote for your own best interests. Vote for John Hall on Tuesday, and put the values back in family values.