this time in Maine, hardly a conservative stronghold - have voted down same-sex marriage. Leaving what she thought would be a victory party after last week's balloting, an emotional Cecelia Burnett said, "I don't understand what the fear is, why people are so afraid of this change." ...more

November 13, 2009

This is in response to a letter to the editor "Be Prepared" which appeared in the Sept. 11 issue. This letter left me heart sickened and reminded me that hatred and animosity continue to fester. ...more

September 18, 2009

After reading the story of James von Brunn, I was sickened. I knew racism and bigotry still existed, but didn't know it existed on such a huge scale. ...more

June 13, 2009

On "Alright, Still," her 2006 debut, Lily Allen had most of us at the first F-bomb, the rest when she rhymed "Tesco" with "al fresco." Cute and cheeky, smart and less shallow than she might have first appeared, Allen harked back to The Specials and early Blur. Cuts such as "LDN" candy-coated cynical sentiments in sweet, bouncy pop. ...more

February 26, 2009

You're standing in line at a deli behind two day laborers fumbling with cash and struggling with English, when the clerk begins spewing hatred. Go back to your country, he says, or go eat at Taco Bell. ...more

January 5, 2009

I know I said I wouldn't write again but the letters you put in Saturday (Nov. 8,) "What Fools" and "Barack Obama" are two more reasons people in Highlands County are living in the Stone Age. These are probably some of the many, many, people who have had it so good these last eight years. These are the people, with 8x12 glossies of GW smirking into the camera, hanging on their walls. I do suppose that the "fools" who voted for "change" are sitting back and having a good laugh at the people who voted for Bush the third (McCain.) Time will prove us right. The only "fools" here are the ones who want to "stay the course." It is a shame to read such bigotry and hate in 90 percent of these letters! Oh the "fools!" ...more

November 15, 2008

I could scarcely believe my eyes while reading Mr. Whiteman's column titled "Bigotry Outnumbered This Election Season." He obviously does not include himself in the group of those overcome. He states "We must pray that this is not the first jihad in the United States." Jihad? The U.S. population electing a Christian man as president of the United States is a jihad? What is this person thinking? Was he thinking the unspoken, that Mr. Obama is really a Muslim and therefore the Jihad connection? How bigoted! And how can your newspaper print such rubbish? His mistaken notion of what the Democratic Party stands for is up to him. But it is more of a statement of how limited his knowledge really is rather than accurate. ...more

November 9, 2008

This letter is in response to Raleigh Whiteman's article "Bigotry Outnumbered This Election Season." Mr. Whiteman is obviously one of the bigots who were outnumbered - thank God for that. ...more

November 8, 2008

It is late Tuesday evening for me as I write this and it's apparent who will win the election. I and hundreds of those from whom I receive e-mail and have cast their ballots are, right now, hoping and praying that somehow John McCain will overcome the large deficit the polls are showing, but it's not very likely. ...more

November 7, 2008

One of my favorite songs has always been Merle Haggard's "The Fighting Side of Me," in which the country legend sings about the hippie protestors whose politics got on his "fighting side." Recently, my "fighting side" was riled up when I heard of the controversy over the new Ben Stiller comedy, "Tropic Thunder," in which the word "retard" is repeatedly used so as to further ridicule the developmentally disabled. For many, this was the last straw in a history of hurtful insults. ...more

August 22, 2008