LETTERS
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MRDAD'S Rally in the
Park
This is beautiful! This man has a "fatherhood" group, but he's now seeing that it's not just fathers that are being hurt by the court system, but entire families, including extended families. I think he has a more mature and broader view than some of the other leaders of related groups. We are printing below the letter that made her think this man was more "mature" than other fathers. MRDAD'S Rally in the Park
Very few people showed up in the rain. It seemed to be a disaster from the very start. It cost quite a few dollars to put together this event which very few people attended. I had lots of sandwiches, chips, brownies and soda to sell so I could try to defer some of the costs. I had to pay for a police detail, (city rules of course) $28.00 dollars an hour + a 10% billing fee. (If you pay cash the day of the event you can wave the 10% fee.) I also needed restrooms (city rule) so I had to pay to keep the Senior Citizens Building open at $20.00 dollars per hour. (Okay you can all stop laughing at me now.) The police detail did come in handy, however. Unfortunately a scuffle broke out between two men. Apparently a jealous ex-boyfriend and a woman's present boyfriend had a few heated words and they needed to be separated after a few punches were thrown by one of the angry men. Peace was quickly restored by the police detail. In a separate unrelated incident, a man was taken away by the police for disturbing the peace and disorderly conduct. Maybe a small crowed wasn't such a bad thing after all? The good things that took place at the rally: The DJ and good personal friend, Bill Bibbe Davis, did a great job with the music. He was awesome. All those who were scheduled to speak showed up. The speakers were very informative. This was also an opportunity for me to meet several new people who are fighting the good fight. The few people who did show up got a chance to hear some important topics and seemed truly interested and asked good questions. A blessing in disguise. The homeless, who sometimes occupy the park as a temporary place to sleep, gathered around on this day for the music and to listen to the speakers talk. Several of these people approached me during the day and told me of their sad stories. Many of them now seem to be living a life of despair. It seems they have given up all hope. Some told me they lost their children because they were poor. Some told me losing their children was enough to turn them into a depression they have never been able to get out of. They all have such sad stories to tell, of losing everything. You can see in their tired sad eyes that once there may have been a gleam of hope, back in time, when life was not so cold and harsh. It was at that time I realized I had lots of food and they didn't. I then told the people to come over to the tables and get some sandwiches, soda, chips and brownies. All their faces lit up with delight and everyone got something to eat. Just then the sun poked out for just a few seconds before hiding again behind the dark, ominous, storm clouds. Many sat right on the wet grass, they sat on the benches, they sat under trees and they ate. I walked around and spoke to the people as they had their lunches, picnic style. One man sitting alone looked at me and said, "Do you know how long it has been since I have had a brownie?" I looked down at his plate of food, expecting to see it piled high with brownies, but to my amazement, on his plate was one sandwich, one bag of chips, one soda and one brownie. I told him he could have more food if he wanted because there was plenty. (I was also feeling a bit guilty for my assumption of him.) The man looked at me and said. "I want to make sure everyone gets something to eat before I take more." I then looked around the park at the others that sat eating. They were smiling and talking to one another enjoying the food. I noticed that all the homeless had taken only one of each thing offered to them. When I told them there was plenty to eat and they could have more, most of them told me they were making sure there was enough for everyone before they took more. I told the humble homeless man and the others to go up and get more brownies, sandwiches, soda and chips because there was plenty for everyone. Despite the fact the man was missing all his teeth he still gave me a big old smile and said "This is a great day," and he shook my hand. My reply to him was "It truly is a great day." I took a very valuable lesson home from the rally in the park. This lesson was taught to me by those who are considered, by most, to have nothing to offer or going for them in life. Even with all their problems, I saw these people still showing compassion for others. It amazed me to see people who struggle to find enough food to eat on a daily basis, have no place to live and have so many other serious problems, yet they still were looking out for one other, making sure others had something before they took more. This is a trait I see lacking in many people who seem to have most of everything in life. I may have spent a lot of money that I couldn't afford to spend by putting on this event, but I gained a lot of something else in my heart and soul that will last a lot longer than anything I could ever buy with money. Was this "Rally In The Park" really such a dud? Thanks to those who helped me put on this event and thanks to those who helped me get something out of it. - Mike Harris
We were a little curious about Mike Harris so we asked him to tell us about himself. He responded with this private message which he did not expect to be published. My name is Mike Harris and I am the founder of MRDAD (Men's Rights Discriminated Against Daily). I am a father who has been abused by the Massachusetts court system and lost rights to see my daughter due to a wild accusation of kidnapping and abuse by my daughter's mother and a judge who violated every right one has to due process. These wild stories were told in December of 1997. I have not been able to see my daughter since that time. I did none of what I was accused of and have police officers and others
as witnesses, yet I am still being punished by the court and I'm not allowed
to see my daughter. To tell you the hurt in my heart is there every waking
moment is just the beginning of the pain I have felt over the past three
years. One can't explain in words the pain one feels when they lose a child
to accusations only.
My story goes on and on like so many other heart breaking stories of children being torn away from good loving parents for no good reason. Thank you for your interest. So Mike Harris is not unusual, after all. He is one more on the list of broken-hearted fathers whose family has been destroyed by the Massachusetts courts. The ones who don't care about their children do not go to the effort of working to reform the system. We have no other knowledge of Mike but his story certainly has the ring of truth like many other fathers we have met. More Reaction from Fistgate
Pawlick should never doubt that his newspaper, Massachusetts News, is having an impact on the "liberal" parents of the state. His GLSEN conference articles and tape have been spread around our town and parents are outraged that these "liberals" would dare suggest such sexual self-abuse to other people's kids. Without Pawlick, no one would know what these perverts are actually capable of doing behind closed doors to school age children in the name of adult homosexual rights and public education. - J. M. Thompson
No Coverage in Other Papers
If this tape is what you say it is, I will be subscribing to your paper. I cannot believe that no other news source in western Massachusetts reported this story. - Robert Wade
"Fistgate" Title Too Much
- name withheld Editor's Comment: : Thank you for writing. We do not intend to be "shocking." We struggled for a long time to use a title that would be instantly recognizable by everyone. This title, I believe, was coined by Jeanine Graf of 96.9 FM. If anyone is able to come up with a better one-word title that will be recognizable, we would be grateful to know about it. Former Homosexual Wants
Truth
I am also the father of three sons and need to do my part to protect them as well. Thank you so much.
Explicit Sex Shouldn't
Be In Education
This is abuse of tax dollars and student minds. If we look at the state test scores, we can see that more attention should be paid to education and less to alternative forms of sex, whether this sex is of a heterosexual or homosexual nature. I don't agree with gross public displays of sexuality and I think the schools are wrong to be teaching these subjects. Children do not need graphic group discussions about how to have gay sex. Children need to learn how to get a job and provide for their own futures. John Ritcher
Will Publicize Fistgate Tape
- Deanna Fernandes
GLSEN Coverage Opened My Eyes
Also, after reading the paper, I could only think how much my brother would enjoy a copy. I showed him the paper and told him how much he would enjoy it. You can imagine my surprise when he told me he had been to your publisher's house and talked with him about writing for the paper!! He offered to let me listen to the tape you gave him, and I just requested my own copy. I now have your paper linked into my favorite spots. I will be reading you frequently. - Christine Quaglia
Pedophilia is Not
Okay, Says Gay Man
I have watched our president being interrogated while there was a crisis overseas because the world wanted to know whether or not he had a sexual relationship with a woman. What is wrong with people? A young boy or girl is innocent and should not be experimenting with any type of sex, whether it is heterosexuality or homosexuality. The child does not understand what is actually going on in his/her own body at the time of adolescence, but some people think it is okay for him or her to be molested? A lot of people put molesting little boys in the same category as a man-to-man adult relationship. As a gay man, I would have to strongly disagree. These are two entirely different subjects, in my opinion. The boy in this case is a little boy. He should not have his innocence stripped from him by a man that claims to love him. Do not get me wrong. Love can exist between a man and a boy, but platonic, not sexual. Are we that far off-base that we are seriously considering the raping and taking of a child's innocence to be morally okay? I strongly hope that the gay alliance groups are not behind any individual that does this to a child. If they are, I shake my head in shame at them. I have known many victims that were molested as children and I know that those individuals did at one point care for the ones that molested them. Many of them still, to this day, are seeking professional help because they cannot love another person. They have problems committing their love to anyone now that they are older because their emotions have been tampered with. - Nicholas D. Luce
Public School Goals Should
be Limited
He thought that public education could be dangerous. I believe your recent coverage shows how insightful he was. To limit the potential for evil he advanced seven ideas. Among them were these two: 1) The function of the public schools should be severely limited and the tendency to usurp parental authority should be checked. 2) He thought the schools were neglecting their real purpose, the impartation of knowledge. He wrote that public schools are supposed to "inculcate all needed temporal knowledge and also maintain a strict and lofty neutrality as to religion." James Madison wrote in his "Memorial and Remonstrance," which all modern Supreme Court church/state decisions use, "The preservation of a free Government requires not merely that the metes and bounds which separate each department of power be invariably maintained; but more especially that neither of them be suffered to overleap the Great Barrier which defends the rights of the people." In context, that "Great Barrier" is respect for the Creator, or respect for individual conscience: "Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe; and if a member of Civil Society, do it with a saving of his allegiance to the Universal Sovereign." State domination of religion is not neutrality. - Lawrence Andrade
More on Unitarians
The "Unitarians," in the sense that you lump all together, are not all alike. We do not follow one creed; indeed we do not have a creed. We are not told that to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God is wrong. Indeed there are those among the Unitarians who hold Christian beliefs and are part of the church. We are Jews, we are Humanists, we are Christians, we are Pagans, we are Wiccans, we are Atheists and we are Buddhists. That in itself may be the problem others find. We respect the rights of people to believe as they do and hope that they have the same respect for us. The church I attend does not advertise to be a Christian Church. Some UU churches are more Christian than others. Each is made of different people with different ministers, so each congregation is unique. I can't figure out why there is such a problem with that. We are accepting. Period. - Michele L. Sheridan
Editor's Comment: I agree that most of the members of your church in Chatham are undoubtedly tolerant, pleasant people. But this does not describe the worldview of the national organization. Everything that we have reported comes from the web pages of the UUA. The vast majority of the members of the UUA are atheists. There is nothing wrong with that, but they certainly have a different worldview than a believing Christian or Jew. And the UUA web page describes how they are being taught to "challenge" and "confront" the believers in order to espouse the UUA point-of-view. That is not our "opinion," that is fact. There is nothing wrong with that either, except when they try to deny it. Since less than 10% of Unitarians now report any adherence whatsoever to the Christian belief system (according to the UUA website), it is difficult to believe that you will find many who hold to His teachings. I was a member of the Unitarian Church in Weston for ten years, which was largely Christian at that time, but a lot has changed in the last thirty years. I left in 1980 because of the intransigent, extreme and intolerant views from UUA headquarters on Beacon Street. Unitarianism Is For Skeptics
My elderly, ultra-Christian peers find Massachusetts News too strong with the truth. They can't afford the worry. Let 'em read Metro West. The 2000 election is exposing the long-hidden truth that the media is the organizer and beneficiary of a national campaign. Ten percent of the American voters depend upon TV to get the picture because they can't read. The Boston Globe may have to go video to keep its new circulation. I look forward to Mass News; I think I can afford the worry. - M. Goduti
Other Matters of
Interest
Many school psychologists are indeed licensed by Massachusetts but it is by their own choice. They do that so they are able to practice outside of their school jobs. My concern for the ones that aren't licensed is this: Why aren't they licensed? Are they not capable of passing the tests? Did they have licenses at one time that were revoked or suspended? Maybe the school psychologists that aren't licensed are the ones that tell the Department of Education, which is supposed to set the credential standards for school psychologists, that Fistgate is perfectly acceptable for twelve- to seventeen-year-old kids. I find it hard to believe that my wife's hairdresser has to be licensed by the Board of Registration, yet the school psychologist doesn't. He or she helps establish the school curriculum, determines if kids need special education, evaluates school kids like any other psychologist would evaluate patients, and refers students to a physician with recommendations about such things as ADD (attention deficit disorder) so the kids can be put on Ritalin. Additionally, psychologists have been trying to get approval to write prescriptions. This is appalling. The DOE has dropped the ball again, and once again, it is the children that are at risk from their actions. - Mike Armstrong
'Reformer of the Month' Happy
- Norm Paley
Alternative News Is Necessary
The speech of Ambassador Alan Keyes is something which cannot be overlooked, although our liberal/socialist news media-the establishment press, much of which is owned by newspapers like the New York Times-chose not to mention it. This tells me a lot and only confirms my choice not to buy the local "County" edition or any edition of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette (the Worcester branch of the New York Times). The Boston Globe has been "out" for me for many years, and I rarely read any Boston paper. In order to find the "truth" today, one must subscribe to your paper or some other conservative, independent publication such as Human Events, etc. I suggest to you that you send copies of this issue (September 2000) to Cardinal Law and all the churches and their respective hierarchies in this Commonwealth and perhaps to the national level as well. It would cost a few bucks to do it, but with copies of the original GLSEN tape and Ambassador Keyes' speech, it would seem to justify that expense. However, perhaps the churches are not interested. - Adrian A. Gaucher, Jr.
Most Media Mushy on Morals
The Massachusetts Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was passed in 1976. Since a court ruling in 1981, Massachusetts' taxpayers are paying for abortions. With the Clinton Administration's approval of fetal research, our federal taxes are paying for this experimentation on defenseless unborn babies. Baby parts are up for sale on the Internet. With mercy killing now legal in Oregon, the federal government is paying $33 for medication to commit suicide. Euthanasia is on the ballot in Maine this November. Why haven't the Boston Globe and Herald informed their readers of this important vote? I am grateful that Massachusetts News is telling the people about the influence of the gay rights activists in promoting sex education in our schools. Yet God's name can't be mentioned in our schools! To combat abortion, euthanasia, pornography, immoral movies and TV shows, nude dancing, blasphemy and the breakdown of the family unit, I urge people to pray. Instead of Christmas shopping, I urge people to give gift certificates to members of their immediate family because of the commercialization of Christmas. Also, let's boycott immoral movies and TV shows, refuse to shop on the Lord's Day or holidays (if stores don't make money, they won't be open) and vote for pro-life candidates only. Finally, I urge you to write Congressmen Joseph Moakley and Richard Neal to file a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution to defend human life from conception until natural death and overturn Roe v. Wade. "All it takes for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Margaret Quinn
Truth Is Lost in Hollywood
Hollywood writes the story, the public becomes mesmerized and the average Joe Schmo believes, "This is the truth, the whole truth, so help you God," but God has nothing to do with this saga. Keep the people drugged and confused, throw a few crumbs their way and they will believe anything because they are too numb to believe otherwise. It is appalling to listen, to see and to read the hit-and-miss world we are facing, all in the name of liberty and freedom. Many people view our politics-as-usual as "tiresome" so they walk away saying, "It's not worth it." But how wrong they are. If we walk away, our America as we once knew it will fade away as easily as the sun sets. When power overthrows our liberty and freedom, this power becomes God - a god that destroys everything and anything that is human or otherwise. All people lose. People lose to a game of fifty-two-pick-up and the winner of the game is the one running the game. Remember the slogan that I created in art class during World War II in 1942; I put it on a drawing of the Statue of Liberty: "He who believes in something more than liberty, loses both." - V. R. Niles
Evolutionists Need Belief
in Miracles
From the scientific labors of men like Francesco Redi (1627-97) and Louis Pasteur (1822-95), it has become an axiom among men and women of true science that life comes only from life. This, of course, is the basis of the scientific law of biogenesis, which is dramatically antagonistic to the evolutionary concept of "spontaneous generation" espoused by Darwinists of every ilk and the recent article in the Globe. Though evolutionists of the stature of George G. Simpson confess that "spontaneous generation does not occur in any known case" and that the scientific evidence indicates that "all life comes from life," they continue to postulate that life really did arise from nonliving matter by natural processes. Why would they hold on to such an anti-scientific assumption? Because, as Dr. George Wald of Harvard once pointed out, the other alternative, special creation, is simply not acceptable. Yes, here they are, clinging to a theory that has no scientific basis, embracing a corpse that Pasteur and others sent to the graveyard, still desperate for something by which to explain the world of living things. Life may have begun from inorganic materials in a scalding toxic bath found near the bottom of the ocean? Now who believes in miracles? - Kieran Murphy
Massachusetts Is Totalitarian
'Paradise'
I was born and raised in Massachusetts and have recently moved to the United States of America. I was granted political asylum on the basis that if I were forced to remain in Massachusetts, I would be persecuted relentlessly for my views of freedom, responsibility, traditional values and fair play. I had lived in the US previously, but only on a temporary work visa while employed in the U.S. military. I had to return here out of fear that in Massachusetts my family would be labeled "right-wing" or "conservative" even though my own mother was a staunch "party" member. I enjoy living in the U.S. where common sense and freedom still exist and things like "service to your country," "duty," "personal responsibility," etc., are not considered swear words. I hope that your continued struggle in the totalitarian workers paradise that is Massachusetts succeeds. Good luck and God bless!! - Sean McCann
Rep. Santiago Commended
By handing out needles to drug addicts with taxpayer dollars, the government is both condoning illegal behavior and enabling it. This is an outrage. How can we effectively reduce drug use when our own government is handing out drug paraphernalia? What kind of a message does that send to young children? Users of illegal drugs should be taken off the streets of our communities, put in jail and forced into rehabilitation programs. It is my hope that more of our elected officials will come to their senses and demand strong penalties for those convicted of drug-related offenses, and certainly not support programs that will encourage illegal and destructive behavior. - Denise Torraco
NARAL Wants Coverage for
Sex Changes
Hormone replacement therapy has zip to do with contraception or abortion. When it is used in people younger than fifty it is commonly for male-to-female transsexuals. Yep, this is about free med's for Charles "Ebony" Horton! HRT is used in menopausal women as a prophylactic measure for osteoporosis, among other things, but I can't think of a connection with "reproductive rights." I'm not a doc, so there may be other uses with which I am not familiar. I suspect the connection is that wider use of estrogens would bring down pill prices, but check with your doctor. That sounds like a tenuous thread for even the hard-liners at NARAL to hang an endorsement upon. - Kevin O'Brien
John Silber Wrong About Kennedy
Silber's "rose colored glasses" eulogy of Kennedy as the Second Coming of Franklin D. Roosevelt negates his past image of objectivity. Silber seems not to realize that Kennedy is about the last standing unreformed knee-jerk liberal in a national elective office in the U.S. Others, such as Dukakis, Mondale, Humphrey and Lyndon Johnson have fallen by the political wayside as their political philosophies have become obsolete. Silber evidences pleasure that (Republicrat) Governor Cellucci refused to endorse Jack E. Robinson as the Republican candidate to oppose Kennedy (thereby accelerating the decline of the Republican Party in Massachusetts) because Robinson is "an opponent no one takes seriously." Ten thousand four hundred Massachusetts voters signed Robinson's nomination papers, but Silber is apparently not concerned with such constitutional details. Robinson's qualifications for office-attorney, founder and president of a cell phone company, Harvard graduate, etc.-outshine any qualifications Kennedy had for office when he first ran for the Senate. Robinson's personal problems, mostly unproven allegations that Senator Kennedy's henchmen have dredged up to unfairly smear him, pale in comparison to Kennedy's many proven peccadilloes. Philip Lawler, U.S. Senate candidate of the Massachusetts Constitution Party, is even better qualified. He is the former editor of the Pilot newspaper of the Boston Catholic Archdiocese and is presently the editor of two Catholic publications, an international newsmagazine and a journalistic syndicate on the Internet. He graduated from Harvard with honors in government, and he did graduate work in political philosophy at the University of Chicago before entering a career in journalism. He is the author of five books on political and religious topics and is the former Director of Studies for the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank in Washington D.C. Kennedy had no such background when he first ran for the Senate! Nor does he now. There is no question about Kennedy's legislative effectiveness, but much of it is channeled in the wrong direction: getting federal aid to dump down the "Big Dig" rat hole, doing President Clinton's dirty work in the Senate to torpedo Social Security reform proposed by a bipartisan Clinton-appointed commission, pushing the Clinton-proposed cuts in Medicare aid to hospitals as part of the 1998 budget agreement that has most Massachusetts hospitals in the red, organizing legislative opposition to eliminating the marriage-tax penalty and the estate death-tax, organizing legislative opposition to overriding Clinton's veto of the late term abortion abolition bill and voting against the 1995 bill to open up the Alaska Oil Dome for production. The bill passed but was vetoed by Clinton which would have prevented the present oil price emergency. Silber's praising of Kennedy's dedication to the people of Massachusetts, is an addiction to outworn liberal princes that no longer serve the best interests of Kennedy's constituents. -Jack E. Molesworth,
Media Lies About Oil Reserves
After nearly two years of spiraling gas prices due to the "oil shortage," Clinton/Gore decided (only a month before the election, no less) to "feel our pain" by releasing thirty million barrels of oil from our reserves. Thirty million barrels? What will that accomplish? Many will be dazzled because it sounds like a lot, but it is only about a thirty-six hour supply for America. The politicians in power know this, as does the media. This is a cheap tactic to buy votes with oil-our oil, an emergency supply. Where is the emergency that thirty million barrels of oil will alleviate? The Democrats can now say, "Look what we did for you, and oh, by the way, remember to vote for Gore in November out of your deep gratitude." What stumps me is the number of people out there that will buy the lie. A large part of the credit should be given where credit is due: to the media and its half-truths. I am certain our Founding Fathers never intended the First Amendment to be used in such a devious manner. It is truly unbelievable. Mark Shean
Candidates Should Not Keep
Secrets
I have a question: why are candidates not required to disclose whether they are now, or have ever been, a member of a group, club, lodge or any organization requiring a secret loyalty oath? After all, the people he wishes to represent have a right to know to whom and what he is loyal-and why the need for secrecy? "We The People" have a right to know! - John C. Snyder
Irish Catholics Hide from
Truth
I am writing from the most liberal state in the union where our notorious Irish "Catholic" (the terms used to be synonymous) politicians in the last forty years have helped to systematically batter our Constitution, finding within it what has never been there; corrupt our courts, which promote a political agenda and not the rule of law; and allow federal intrusion into our independent school system, so our third graders now know how to put a condom on a banana-for a start. They have continuously worked hard to bury us under the tyranny of the ideological minorities in our state Senate, where there are so many Irish "Catholic" senators there has been a "quiet" public pronouncement that marriage and sodomy are genuinely compatible. That is our situation here. By the way, I am third-generation Irish Catholic, so I was shocked when The Irish Voice, on its front page, wrote that "many influential Irish politicians" favored Clinton as a candidate for envoy to Ireland. Do we really think that if we bed with the demon, we will give birth to real Irish unity? The man and his puppy, Gore, who is concerned about the environment (save the seals and sanction partial birth infanticide), will contaminate any genuine edifice the Irish may wish to raise. If Bill Clinton, who has shown a narcissistic contempt for anyone and anything, is instrumental in the Irish peace process, what this will ask of the Irish people-like Doctor Faustus-will be much too high a price. I met a woman in Ireland years ago that said, "We Irish are so slow. If only we could catch up to you Americans!" My answer: "Please, pray that we turn around and come to where you are. We are going over the precipice." And sadly, so many Irish "Catholic" politicians, like the ones we have in Massachusetts, are taking us there. And so many Irish "Catholic" citizens, because our wallets are now heavy, are persistently indifferent. May the Innocents before the face of God intercede for us. - Paul I. Dooley, Sr. |