This just in--Catholic Church not anti-gay

On “Meet the Press” David Gregory asked Cardinal Dolan about the Church’s stand on gays.  I’ll quote the entire first paragraph of an article in today’s New York Times entitled “In Interview, Dolan Says Church is ‘Caricatured’ as Anti-Gay.”

Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said on Friday that the Roman Catholic Church was being “caricatured’ as being anti-gay,” even as he lamented the continued expansion of same-sex marriage in the United States and vowed to keep fighting it.

That is beyond irony.

The N.R.A. can kiss the butt of my 16-guage shotgun

On November 20 I wrote about the early December expiration of the law banning plastic guns and speculated on the N.R.A.’s position on extending that law.  I will now explain why the N.R.A. is so powerful, even though many of its policies are opposed by an overwhelmingly majority of Americans.

It all has to do with the concept of “intensity.”  In public opinion studies intensity is the term given to how strongly people feel about a particular issue.  The first thing to realize is that a small portion of the public is not even aware of many issues.  How many people can tell you much about milk price supports, or nuclear waste storage at Yucca Mountain, or the Citizens United decision, or the Delaware loophole?  On that type of issue small groups with good lobbyists and some targeted campaign contributions can exert disproportionate influence.  They have “intensity,” while the rest of the public couldn’t care less.

On some issues, of course, intense groups exist on both sides of the issue.  Anti-abortion groups are somewhat balanced by people who feel strongly that abortion should be a matter between a woman and her doctor.  As long as there is a large cushion of people in the middle of an issue, democracy can handle that kind of intensity. 
When the country becomes too polarized, however, democracy breaks down.  (30% think slavery is necessary, 20% doesn’t care, and 50% thinks slavery is an evil to be ended--well, you know what happened in 1861.)

Now let’s look at the N.R.A.  Most people think you should have background checks for anyone purchasing an assault rifle.  They think assault rifle owners should register their firearms.  They don’t understand why assault rifles, which you can’t use to hunt anything except people, should even be allowed.

But they don’t feel any intensity.  They don’t have any equivalent bumper stickers to counter “The only way you’ll take my gun is from my cold dead fingers” or “Gun control is sighting with both hands.”  

N.R.A. members write letters.  They vote on one issue only.  They give money for campaign contributions.  They are vocal.  They are intense.  And they win.

As an opponent of the N.R.A., I have also become intense.  When some N.R.A. member tells me Obama wants to take his guns, I’m going to tell him he is an ass who is playing into the hands of arms manufacturers.  When somebody tells me about the 2nd amendment, I will point out the words “well regulated.”  And I will note that I, too, have a shotgun, and I, too, know how to use it.  I’m really getting tired of the crap pedaled by the N.R.A.

Quest for the New York Times

Every day I drive four miles to the Kresgeville Deli for my New York Times.  Last Sunday  the Deli didn’t get its normal delivery.  There’s some problem with the distributor.  That meant a 14-mile trip to Jim Thorpe, where Dugan’s on Broadway had a copy.  On Monday I was able to buy one at the Sunoco station on Delaware in Palmerton.  On Tuesday it was back to Dugan’s.  Today no one--Deli, Dugan’s or Sunoco--had a copy.

At this point most readers will be shouting, “You can get it on line.”  And I did.  It’s not the same.

First of all, the on-line edition does not have all the news the paper has.  Secondly, you have to hunt for stuff.  You have to click on the article.  You can’t just turn the page and scan headlines.  Third, there’s all kinds of distracting crap along the margins.  Finally, Linda and I like to work the crossword puzzle during lunch.  That won’t work on the screen.

If my various outlets don’t have copies by Friday, I’m driving to Manhattan and raising some hell.

Note:  Under the terms of the Bloggers’ contract, I get Thanksgiving off.  I’ll be back Friday.  In the meantime, have a nice Thanksgiving.

Black Thursday

Suppose there was a country where people cared more about each other than about saving a dollar or two.  Suppose in that country shoppers were disgusted that stores like Lowes and Wal-Mart stayed open on a holiday traditionally centered around family activities, denying their employees Thanksgiving with their loved ones.  And suppose those shoppers boycotted those stores that stayed open to teach them a lesson about just what was important.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that country is the United States.

Wyoming and Texas

In continuing with my comparison of states (last night it was liberal Minnesota and right- wing Wisconsin), tonight I will discuss Texas and Wyoming.  

Wyoming is not a blue state.  In some counties it is difficult to find a registered Democrat.  The license plate has a cowboy on a bucking horse, and, for all I know, gun ownership is mandatory.  Nonetheless, Wyoming way ahead of Pennsylvania in its fracking regulations.

In 2010 Wyoming became the first state to require drilling companies to disclose the chemicals used in fracking.  A Times article on Nov. 23 (“Strong Rules on Fracking in Wyoming Seen as Model” by Kate Galbraith) quoted Republican Governor Matthew Mead as saying, “I am not going to accept the question of do you want a clean environment or do you want energy.  The fact is that in Wyoming, we want and need both.”

Get this.  A newly adopted water rule will require oil and gas companies to test wells or springs within a half mile of a drilling site, before and after drilling.  The tests will measure such items as bacteria, dissolved gasses like methane, and 20 chemical compounds.  Drilling companies must also monitor air pollution at drilling sites.  Wow.

And now Texas.  Members of the textbook review panel that looks at science books is concerned that the Genesis version of creation is slighted.  You know, the one that says a god created the world in six days, which evidently tired him out so much he had to rest on the seventh day.  I believe in this version fossils were put down by the devil (evidently also created by god) to confuse us.

Lordy, Lordy.

Minnesota v.Wisconsin

Don’t you love it when reality conforms to your expectations.  An article in the Sunday Review section of the New York Times compared the economic performance of Minnesota and Wisconsin.  

Wisconsin, as you probably know, elected the right-wing anti-union tax-cutting governor Scott Walker and a Republican legislature to do his bidding.  Minnesota, on the other hand, elected liberal Gov. Dayton and a Democratic legislature.  Minnesota raised taxes on the top 1%.

Wisconsin is now behind Minnesota in job growth.  Minnesota put money into schools; Wisconsin cut state funding to education.  Minnesota expanded Medicaid, Wisconsin refused, and many of its poor lack health insurance.  Minnesota is doing well economically; Wisconsin, not so much.

Bottom line:  liberal polices created jobs, expanded health care, and created a good business climate.  Right-wing ideology in Wisconsin excited the Tea Party but wrecked the state.  

By the way, Gov. Walker is now contemplating a run for the presidency.  His campaign slogan is “Let’s screw up the country the way we screwed up Wisconsin.”

Dallas Buyers' Club

My friend Jeremy stopped by today to teach me how to add pics to my postings.  He asked me how I decided what to write about, and I told him I usually didn’t decide until fairly late in the evening.  

Tonight, for example, I could have written about:

1.  how poaching for aphrodisiacs is depleting an already small stock of rhinos (listen, you impotent guys, one word--Viagra); 

2.  how the N.S.A. was planning to tap even more emails and calls;

3.  the visit by a Pakistani to various members of Congress to get answers about why his innocent relatives were killed in a drone strike;

4.  an article in the latest Nation about the progressive victories in the November elections;

5.  an article in Lancaster Farming about how big agribusiness is trying to pass a law that would override state laws on  caged chickens.  (I have a personal interest in that one--my chickens are NOT kept in cages.)

Instead, I’ve decided to write about the “Dallas Buyers’ Club,” a movie about the AIDS crisis in the late 80s and early 90s, before we were sure how the disease actually worked and what drugs might be helpful in alleviating the disease.  Linda and I saw it tonight at the Pocono Theater in Stroudsburg.

I had a Poly Sci major who had AIDS in the early years of the disease.  He sat in the back of the classroom away from other students. I made it a point to shake his hand, but I think he was afraid that other students might be reluctant to sit near him.  Now people with AIDS live long lives, but at that time the diagnosis was a death sentence.  He died a semester before he would have graduated.  San Jose State, to its credit, awarded him his B.A. posthumously.  

I don’t think you will “enjoy” the “Dallas Buyers’ Club,” but I think you will benefit from seeing it.

Why was Jerry Knowles elected?

“People didn’t elect me to implement the largest gas tax increase in the history of Pennsylvania,” said state representative Jerry Knowles of Schuylkill County.  

So why did they elect him?  Perhaps they expected him to make some hard decisions.  Perhaps they expected a representative who didn’t slavishly follow Grover Norquist.  Perhaps they wanted someone who was thoughtful and governed by reason rather than soundbites.  Maybe they expected political courage.

Too bad they got Jerry Knowles.

"Naked Power Grab"

Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa called today’s change in the filibuster rule on judicial and administrative appointments a “naked power grab.”

Here’s what’s a naked power grab.  When a Democratic President, with a Democratic Senate, and a House in which Democratic candidates received more votes than Republicans cannot get a qualified court appointee approved, that is a naked power grab on the part of the minority party.  

I’ve read that this will come back to haunt the Democrats when the Republicans are in power.  If you have been watching the Republican shenanigans over the past few years, do you think for one minute the Republicans would allow a minority of Democrats to block appointments?

Republicans are the party of voter suppression and of gerrymandering.  They are the party that encourages people not to sign up for health care and tells stories about how awful the Affordable Care Act is, ignoring the hundreds of thousands of people who die because they don’t have insurance.  They do not play well with others.

I am so glad the Democrats in the Senate did this.  I just wish they had done it years ago.

Plastic guns

An editorial in the Times today notes that December 8 is the expiration date for a law that bans the manufacture, sale, import, or possession of guns undetectable by metal detectors or X-ray machines.  This ban was first signed into law by President Reagan in 1988.  It was renewed in 1998 and 2003.

This time there could be a fight.  After all, the Second Amendment doesn’t mention plastic guns.  Any bets on what the N.R.A.’s position will be?

By the way, in last night's posting I noted that the Transportation Bill had been voted down in the Penna. state house.  It was brought back and passed.  Rep. Heffley voted no on the reconsideration.

Corbett's good deed--shot down

Gov. Corbett’s transportation bill was voted down yesterday by a combination of very liberal Democrats, who were concerned about changes in the “prevailing wage,” and by very conservative Republicans (i.e., Doyle Heffley), who objected to an increase in the gas tax.

The Democrats who voted against this bill were wrong.  Flat out wrong.  The project threshold for “prevailing wage” to kick in was raised from $25,000 to $100,000.  Given that almost no road project can be done for less than $100,000, that was a reasonable compromise.  The Laborers’ and Electrical Workers’ Unions, among others, recognized this and supported the bill.

The projects must be paid for, and the bill would have added a 25-28¢ a gallon gas tax.  This is where the conservative Republicans balked.  They give their loyalty not to Gov. Corbett or the people of Pennsylvania, but to Grover Norquist, who opposes any tax increase.

All the reasonable people in the middle lost out.  Pennsylvania roads, bridges, and mass transit lost out.  Workers lost out.  

I’m pretty sure Doyle Heffley is proud of his nay vote.  He ought to be ashamed.

Doyle Heffley-One of Us?

We’ve been doing a little research on Rep. Doyle Heffley’s campaign contributors.  In 2012 he received $15,000 from a hedge fund manager in New Jersey. Interestingly, Mr. Heffley’s campaign slogan was, “He’s still one of us.”  I think the “us” in that slogan must have been referring to hedge fund managers.

We also learned that Mr. Fred Reinhard of Palmerton donated $5000 to the Heffley campaign.  I wonder if that is the reason the Times News never prints my letters crtitical of Mr. Heffley.  Probably there’s no connection.

China's one-child policy

The globe has too many people.  We are changing the climate, we are polluting our atmosphere and our oceans, and we are using up our resources.  Humans are already beyond the long-run carrying capacity.  One bright spot in our over-population was China, which had a one-child per couple policy for decades.  

Now China has announced an easing of this policy. Couples will be allowed to have more than one child.  This is being celebrated in the west as a step forward freedom.  It isn’t.

It may be that the 1.34 billion Chinese will have two million more births on top of the approximately 15 million births per year.  I don’t see this as a cause for celebration.  I see this as another nail in the coffin of human habitation on this planet.

Clarence Thomas and Forrest Gump

Clarence Thomas spoke to a fundraiser for the Federalist Society, a group of conservative attorneys.  I’m not commenting on the inappropriateness of a sitting Supreme Court justice helping to raise funds for a political group, although it is totally inappropriate.

Nor will I comment on the fact that Thomas never says anything on the Court, but now speaks out for a conservative group.

What amazes me is that, according to an article in today’s Morning Call, Thomas compared himself to Forrest Gump.  He was quoted as saying,”One thing led to another, and I wound up on the court.  It was like totally Forrest Gump.”

If I remember correctly, didn’t Forrest Gump’s mom sometimes say  “Stupid is as stupid does"?

19th century mind in a 21st century world

You may have noticed that I’m having some trouble posting.  Last evening when I opened Sajeonogi to check my latest posting, I noticed I had, in addition to the actual post, two extra drafts.  

I didn’t set up this blog.  My friend Rene took the picture of Beltzville Lake, took the picture of the goat on my profile (I really do look like that), and explained how to post.  All I do is type in what I want to say and then click on a box that says “publish” and it’s done.

Lately, however, my blogger program tells me I have problems.  I have no idea how to fix them, and Rene lives in Harlem, so I can’t just ask him to drop by.  I also know that I could add pictures, but I have no idea how to do that either.  My friend Chris told me that if I were on Facebook, I would increase my readership, but the whole idea of having “friends” is distasteful to me.

What I will do is stumble along.  It could be worse.  I could be the guy in charge of the Affordable Care Act website.

Doyle Heffley

My latest letter to the Lehighton Times-News:

Rep. Doyle Heffley recently voted for a bill (HB1576) to give legislators a greater say in how and when Pennsylvania wildlife is considered endangered.  Currently the Fish and Boat Commission and the Game Commission decide whether or not a species should be listed.

Mr. Heffley was quoted as saying that scientists can’t always be trusted, and that in a democracy lawmakers must answer to the citizenry.  Heffley said, “I find it amazing that we put scientists on a pedestal.”

While it is true that in a democracy citizens rule, we do not depend on majority vote to determine that trans fats are bad for one’s health, or to predict the path of a hurricane, or to gauge the strength of structural components of a bridge.  We hire scientists and engineers for that.

I don’t want some legislator to declare bald eagles are no longer endangered because a campaign contributor wants to put a fracking pad on a nesting site.

Let's see if it gets published.

Redskins

The Allentown Morning Call today ran an article about the Neshaminy HIgh student newspaper’s decision to no longer will use the name “Redskins” when referring to Bucks County sports teams.  

High school students are showing us the way.  I find it hard to believe that in 2013 a NFL team still refers to itself as the Washington Redskins.  This is not about “political correctness,” an overused term.  This is about respect for native Americans. 

Although I don’t often post about NFL teams in this blog, if I do have occasion to refer to the Washington team, I will call it “the Washington NFL team that never wins Superbowls.”

Typhoon Haiyan and the Warsaw U.N. talks

As the sea level rises, Pacific coastal nations like the Philippines, Vietnam, and Bangladesh will experience more disasters from surges resulting from storms.  An article in New York Times entitled “South Florida Faces Ominous Prospects from Rising Waters,” (Nov. 1, 2013) is evidence that developed countries are also in trouble.

Currently U.N. delegates are meeting in Warsaw to discuss ways to strengthen the Kyoto Protocol, an earlier effort to slow the growth of greenhouse gas emissions.  The new standards would take effect in 2020.

Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated much of the Philippines, has given urgency to the talks.  Reaching agreement is not easy.  What should rich countries do to reduce greenhouse gasses?  How much money should they set aside to help poorer nations cope with climate change?  What about developing but still poor countries like India?

I don’t know what will come out of the Warsaw talks, but I will predict that 100 years from now, the humans left on this planet will not be talking about the Affordable Care website or the Kardashians or the Syrian civil war.  They will be wondering why an article about the climate talks in Warsaw were relegated to page 13 in the nation’s premier newspaper, and why the House of Representatives included over a hundred Republicans who thought climate change was a myth.

Armistice Day

That’s what they used to call Veterans’ Day.  In 1918, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the belligerent nations signed an armistice, ending perhaps the most stupid war every fought in the history of stupid wars.  

World War I, also known as the War to End All Wars, ended 99 years of relative peace, caused millions of casualties, saw the Bolsheviks come to power in Russia, and led to a peace treaty that humiliated Germany and gave rise to both Mussolini and Hitler.  The end of that war was worth celebrating, although it never should have begun.

Now we call it Veterans’ Day.  We celebrate the men and women who served in all of our wars, including wars that were necessary (World War II, Korea, Afghanistan), and the ones that made little or no sense.

What is the appropriate comment?  You say Merry Christmas or Happy Halloween.  Somehow “Happy Veterans’ Day” seems wrong.

Union chants

Linda’s assignment at the Pottsville labor rally against “right to work for less” laws was to be the chant leader.  She not only led the 400 union demonstrators in the chants, she wrote some of the chants.  An article in the Pottsville Republican noted her efforts. (Click on <http://republicanherald.com/news/union-rallies-in-pottsville-to-protest-right-to-work-1.1583245> for an account).

Here are three of the chants.  

Right to work; now that’s a lie!

It’s UGLY, it’s UGLY

Right to work; now that’s a lie!

It’s UGLY, it’s UGLY.

Right to work’s not right at all

It’s UGLY, it’s UGLY

Right to work’s not right at all

It’s UGLY, it’s UGLY.

     •••••

Organize, don’t fool around

Pottsville is a union town!

Union town, through & through

You for me and me for you.

     •••••

and my favorite:

Richard Yuengling, rich and rude

We don’t like your attitude.

Hey, hey, ho, ho

Right to work has got to go.

If you would like a copy of all ten chants she distributed, let me know.  I’ll send you one.

Yuengling Rally in Pottsville

Yuengling (pronounced Ying-ling) Beer is made by the oldest family-owned brewery in the U.S.  From that you might think the beer is located in a small town in a very old brewery.  Until fairly recently, that was the case.  The brewery was an old brick building on Mahantongo Street in Pottsville.

Now Yuengling has gone national, on sale pretty much everywhere, with a huge new plant about a mile east of Pottsville and another in Florida.  According to a recent article in the Morning Call, the owner, Dick Yuengling, has a net worth of $1.4 billion.

The brewery had been union, organized by the Teamsters, but Mr. Yuengling broke the union by threatening to close the Pottsville location and move out of state.  Now he, along with the Koch Brothers, is pushing Gov. Corbett to support legislation to make Pennsylvania a “Right to Work for Less” state, which will drop Pennsylvania wages down to the levels of states like Alabama and Mississippi.

Today we had a big rally in Pottsville, with over 300 union members massing on Mahantongo Street and then marching to the Schuylkill County Courthouse for speeches, including one by Allentown Mayor Pawlowski.  We had a police escort and the support of the Pottsville mayor.  

Carbon County was represented by six of us, including Linda with a bullhorn leading the whole group in chants such as “What’s disgusting?  Union busting?  Union busting--that’s disgusting.”

I always have a hard time with unmitigated greed.  Why would a man worth $1,400,000,000 want to take away the union rights of workers in a county where the median household income in 2010 was $43,457?  Schuylkill’s median income, incidentally, has dropped since 2010.  I don’t know about Dick Yuengling’s income.

Labor rally tomorrow

I’m not posting tonight.  We are too busy making signs for the rally tomorrow in front of the Yuengling Beer brewery in Pottsville, scheduled for 10:30.  More on that tomorrow.

Legalizing marijuana

The most recent issue of The Nation (Nov. 18. 2013) notes that our last three presidents smoked marijuana, although Bill Clinton didn’t inhale.  George W. said he “was young and foolish.”  President Obama said, “I inhaled frequently--that was the point.”

Think about this for a moment.  The last three leaders of the most powerful nation on earth have done what thousands of people are serving long prison terms for doing the very same thing.

It is time we legalized marijuana.  It is past that time.

Democrats win in Lehighton

Helen Torok not only won the election to the Lehighton Borough Council, she came in first.  This means that Lehighton will have its first African-American Jewish female council member ever.  YES!

The second and third highest vote getters were also Democrats.  The losers were the two Republicans, one of whom seems to be Tea Party from his campaign material. 

I’ve been involved in many campaigns at the local, state, and national level, but the Torok campaign was one of the most satisfying.

Harry Truman, role model

In 1948 when Truman ran against Dewey, ballots were all paper and took a long time to count.  That year the racist Strom Thurmond ran on the Dixiecrat Party line, Henry Wallace ran as a Progressive because Truman wasn’t liberal enough, and Dewey, a former New York governor noted for his battles against corruption, was the Republican nominee.

It looked bad for Truman, and near midnight there was no clear indication of a winner.  In fact, one Chicago newspaper headlined its morning edition “Dewey Wins.”  I’m reasonably sure that every reader of this post remembers the picture of a laughing Truman holding up the newspaper.

In any case, sometime during the evening of election day, Truman announced that he was going to bed--he’d find out who won in the morning.

I spent the entire day working at polling places in Lehighton handing out literature and talking up the candidacy of Helen Torok, who was running for borough council.  She is a great candidate, and I have my fingers crossed, but it is 10:00 p.m., the results aren’t in, and I’m exhausted from standing outside in the cold all day.

I’m announcing that I’m going to bed.  I hope our results are as good for us as Truman’s were for him.

Koch Brothers in Lehighton?

A front page article in today’s Times details the billionaire Koch Brothers involvement in local races, including a mayor and council race in Coralville, Iowa, a small town in the eastern part of the state.  “Americans for Prosperity,” a Koch Brothers front group, is mailing fliers, advertising in newspapers, and calling voters in an effort to influence the race.

Fortunately for democracy and for the people of Coralville, the involvement of the Koch Brothers seems to have created more resentment than support, even from people who are on the same side as “Americans for Prosperity.”

Suppose, however, the activities of the Koch Brothers were not publicized.  Suppose, for example, they gave money to the Lehighton 9/12 group, our local Glenn Beck-inspired organization, and didn’t tell anyone.

A few years ago I picketed a 9/12-sponsored event at Penn’s Peak with a sign that said “Who funds the 9/12 group?”  Local businessman Fred Reinhard accosted me at the event and said something to the effect of “Who cares where they get their funding?”

I told him at the time, “I care.”  I still care, and I’m still curious.

False equivalency

Journalism as currently practiced has major problems.  House Republicans caused the recent government shutdown and the run-up to the U.S. government nearly defaulting on its financial obligations.  That was clearly obvious to any neutral observer.

Nonetheless, much of the media treated the crisis as though it was equally caused by the Obama administration and the House Republicans.  A frequent refrain was “a pox on both your houses.”

Increasingly, objectivity is sacrificed on the altar of “equivalency.”  The overwhelming scientific consensus says that global warming is caused by human activity, but reporters search out some whack job who denies that global warming is even happening.  That provides “balance.”

Note what is happening here.  Obvious falsehoods are given equal weight to objective facts.  Tea Party silliness treated with respect and is given equal time to reasonable and factual arguments.

Rest assured, you won’t find that here.  On this blog bullshit will remain bullshit.

Spying on Chancellor Merkel

My aunt has a 90-year-old brother who lives in a suburb of Kassel, Germany.  I asked her for his address so I could write to him about his opinion on the U.S. government’s tapping of Chancellor Merkel’s phone conversations and emails.  Here’s my letter, edited to remove some personal items about my aunt.

Dear ________, 

I believe that ever since the World Trade Center attack, the United States government has lost its ideals.  Time and time again I hear people willing to defend phone taps, email recordings, or intrusive airport searches.  They say, “I guess it will make us safer...,” and shrug.

We have turned into a nation where people are constantly afraid.  For example, one would-be terrorist tried to put a bomb in his shoe.  The bomb didn’t explode, but millions of people must now take off their shoes at airports.  The Transportation Safety Agency, which supervises airport security, has grown into a very large agency.

In spite of all of that, I never thought the U.S.government would intercept messages of our German and French allies.  Evidently this started in 2002 under President Bush.  President Obama says he didn’t know about it.  If he didn’t, he should have; if he did, he should have stopped it.

I am a member of the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization which defends the Bill of Rights, but I’m afraid we aren’t very successful.  

On another subject, I keep your sister supplied with fresh eggs.  My wife Linda and I have 23 chickens, and we get about a dozen eggs a day.  We have a large garden, and I raise lots of hot peppers and preserve many jars of jam and jelly.  If you would like a jar, let me know.

By the way, we also make our own sauerkraut.  I suppose you know that Pennsylvania Germans originally came from the Palatinate section of Germany.  In fact, there are a few very elderly people in our area who still speak the dialect known as “Pennsylvania “Dutch” or Deutsch, in the original spelling.  My father, who died in 2006, could still speak it.

If you feel more comfortable writing back in German, feel free to do that.  If I have trouble translating, I can always ask your sister for help.

If my “pen pal” sends a reply, I will share the relevant portions with you.

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren

Linda and I lived in downtown San Jose for 13 years.  For most of that time we were represented by Congressman Don Edwards, sometimes known as the "Congressman from the First Amendment."  His aide was Zoe Lofgren, who has represented the district for all the years since Mr. Edwards retired.  Here's a copy of a letter I recently sent to Ms. Lofgren.

Dear Representative Lofgren:

Quite a few years ago I was the Chair of the Santa Clara County Democratic Party, and for many years I taught Political Science at San Jose State.  In 2002 I retired, and  Linda and I moved back to the family farm in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, where we have been heavily involved in Democratic Party politics and both Obama campaigns.

The reason I’m writing to tell you is to tell you how pleased I am that you have been in the forefront in trying to reign in the National Security Agency.  I find the actions of that agency almost beyond belief--spying on American citizens as well as people like Chancellor Merkel, one of our closest allies.  Every request for data collection seems to be approved, and it turns out the President didn’t even know about some of the agency’s activities.  

I think Mr. Snowden deserves a medal for bringing this vast spying network to our attention, and I think the N.S.A. needs to be brought under control.  This is not the America I want.

Keep up the good fight.  I am proud to have supported you in the past, and I applaud your efforts to protect our liberties.