This is my first diary and I am writing it out of love and support for my own Congressman, Jim McDermott from the Seattle Metro area. Be gentle, be supportive, and most of all be inspired if you have a Representative who you are proud of let them know, they need to hear from us.
Like many here on this site I have been deeply saddened by the events last weekend. On Saturday I had taken my 10 year old neighbor out for a girls day. We went to the the Piccasso show at SAM, had our nails done, and had a fun lunch at a grown-up restaurant where you eat with chop sticks. She's a brilliant little girl full of confidence and insights that only a child can still possess. When our day was over and I returned home I turned on my computer to read about the horrors that had occurred in Arizona. I have been seeing that little girl's face in my mind's eye all week. Violence took away a girl much like my neighbor's child, they even look alike. I have wanted to just walk across to their house and hug her but I'm afraid I'd break down in tears, and no kid needs some adult sobbing all over them right?
This brings me to today and the same feelings of protection and devotion have surfaced since hearing about the very serious death threats against my rep., Jim McDermott. On December 9th Charles Turner Halbermann made two different phone calls in which he threatened to kill McDermott, his family, and his friends. He said the founding fathers would blow his brains out if given the chance. He called McDermott "a piece of human filth, a liar and a communist." He has these opinions of McDermott because of his position against the tax cuts for the rich. Halbermann, who according to one of the recordings, has three million from a trust fund and "knows people", "has lots of friends", all of which could make certain that McDermott "goes down."
This is not the first time Halbermann has made threats against a government official, last March he was investigated for leaving threats against a California state legislator. His current excuse for the calls threatening death was that he was drunk. My question to him would be drunk on what? Drunk on the hate, the relentless advocacy of harming those who don't agree with you, drunk on the vile stream of anti-American assertions that violence is a means to an end in a Democratic country?
McDermott is a Congress member who stands on the line with his constituents. He votes like a left liberal. He honors his responsibility of serving those who put him in office. I may not agree with every stance he takes but members of MY community don't agree on everything. What we do agree on is how much McDermott represents all of us with an a fair level hand. We have voted him back into office three times, and every time the race wasn't even close. I called the office this afternoon just to thank he and his staff, for being my rep., and for being brave in the face of such rage. For you see, Jim ain't backin' down, and neither should we. We need to call out these cowards and expose their anti-American methods.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/...