They're back, with a vengeance. Please help us.
I live in Alabama, and for the first time in many months, I am actually terrifed for my life, liberty, family, and sanity.
A simple email from you could accomplish much.
We were so close.
We have a real chance at electing an African American governor in a state that once worshipped George Wallace.
Democratic candidates, such as Josh Segall, have come closer to unseating the entrenched Republican Good 'Ol Boys than at any time in history.
Republican Christian Conservatives are slinking into holes and under rocks, looking for any cover they can find, in an attempt to distance themselves from the manifold disasters of the last eight years. They've taken down their "Christ Lives" and "Repent!" yard signs, put away their Rush Limbaugh t-shirts, and finally removed those "W" stickers from their monster truck Chevys. You know, the ones just below the gun racks?
This is not a joke.
For many of you who live in sane parts of the world, this may sound extreme. My home is, I admit, still a nightmarish place to live in many respects. But the things described above were once as common, perhaps even as mandatory, as breathing air. Any deviation, any display of disagreement, might literally mean an attack on life, property, home, or family.
Alabama.
Charles Barkley (admittedly a loaded example, but this is Alabama I'm talking about) claimed that "You can't screw up Alabama." This followed his comment that he "used to be a Republican until they lost their damn minds." I chortled. I was so relieved that there appeared to be even a tiny loosening of the stranglehold seige mentality.
I am terrified to find it returning, on a level that makes even the last eight years look almost friendly.
Kossacks, we need your help. Please follow the link and read the blatant, frightening hate speech published on Veteran's Day in my hometown paper.
Then do something about it.
Larry Keenum, who claims to be an educator, counselor, and is an elected public official in my hometown, decided to celebrate Veteran's Day by inciting hate speech of the darkest kind. The worst that I have seen in a decade or so. Even worse, the Athens News Courier decided to print it.
I cannot even repeat some of it. I am too nauseated. But here's a sampling:
"Dear Veteran: You didn’t die... so twelve soldiers could be murdered at Fort Hood by a nut in a robe."
"Even the Africans, who arrived under the terrible institution of bondage (even though their own people put them there), believed in the American idea of "you reap what you sow""
"...next election, no tree hugging, whale kissing, global warming, Adam & Steve believing, no nuts with weak gene pools, only God-fearing, flag-waving Americans with some common sense. Tell all the others to "take a hike." "
"...stingy people, sorry people, scum of the earth people, people whose family tree does not fork very often, people who are the poster child for Unplanned Parenthood."
"We are tired of condoning your laziness. We are tired of making excuses for your sorriness. We are tired of your grandparents raising your children. We are tired of you crying prejudice. We are tired of four generations of the same American family being on welfare. We are tired of the tattoos, body piercings, and the immodest clothing. We are tired of you spending your money on beer and cigarettes instead of health care and now expect working Americans to pick up the tab."
Link to original story:
http://www.enewscourier.com/...
Contact info for the paper:
The News-Courier
410 W. Green St.
P.O. Box 670
Athens, AL 35611
Business phone: (256) 232-2720
FAX lines: (256) 233-7753 (news), (256) 771-0207 (advertising)
Newspaper staff:
Publisher: Ann Laurence ann@athensnews-courier.com
Managing Editor: Kelly Kazek kelly@athensnews-courier.com
Link to contact info for the executives that own this paper:
http://www.cnhi.com/...
And, most importantly, contact info for the author of this piece of vitriol:
Larry Keenum runs the office of Carrer Services and Cooperative Education at Athen State University (larry.keenum@athens.edu)
He is a former PRESIDENT of the ACS school board (2007) and is still on the board.
email: ljkeenum@pclnet.net
My hope is that any fellow Kossacks who feel offended or alarmed by this article will let the parties involved know their feelings and offer any corrections to some obviously erroneous information.
Thank you.