RNC Candidate Distributes 'Barack The Magic Negro' Song

RNC Candidate Distributes 'Barack The Magic Negro' Song

No, I'm sorry, this is not a case of bleeding heart liberals being "politically correct," this is a case of top level Republicans showing their true colors- mean spirited, ugly, racist colors.

Can you believe this? Chip Saltsman included this CD in his Christmas card, along with a letter asking members of the RNC to make him their chairman? Friends, even if this were not blatant racism, it is not acceptable, mature behavior for reasonable adults seeking power and responsibility.

And this is the kind or tripe that Rush Limbaugh puts on his show all the time??!! And you "Ditto Heads" think it's funny? Please take a good long look and consider what he really stands for stands for.

Racism, bigotry, intolerance, and xenophobia are not "Family Values."

Resolve to not make any resolutions

I don't know if I'll ever be well enough write a weekly column anymore, but I can't lie, I really do miss it. I'm still in recovery. Pundit's Anonymous has been helping, but it's still just "one day at a time."

What do Americans do when they miss something? Bring it back in "re-runs."

So, in the event that there are actually two or three of you out there who read this blog or who used to read my column and would like to have something to put you in the New Year's
Click here: http://tedscolumn.blogspot.com/search/label/New%20Year to read my New Year's resolutions from 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007!

We need Progress

Recently I was reading about Teddy Roosevelt again and I came upon the speech he made to the newly created Progressive Party after the Republican party powers that be disenfranchised their own primary voters by nominating William Taft in 1912. How different would the political landscape be today if they'd picked up the torch of progressive reform instead of maintaining their practice of protecting the wealthy at the expense of the middle and working classes? I've written a lot about how I think Obama needs to follow the patterns of Franklin Roosevelt since we're in such an economic mess, but maybe he'd do just as well to learn from FDR's Republican cousin (that is, until the Republican Party betrayed him). I wish I could convince all my Republican friends that Teddy's philosophies are far more beneficial for America than Reagan or Bushes. Whatchya gonna do?

"...our aim should be the same in both State and Nation; that is, to use the Government as an efficient agency for the practical betterment of social and economic conditions throughout this land. There are other important things to be done, but this is the most important thing...

I am well aware that every upholder of privilege, every hired agent or beneficiary of the special interests, including many well-meaning parlor reformers, will denounce all this as "Socialism" or "anarchy"--the same terms they used in the past in denouncing the movements to control the railways and to control public utilities. As a matter of fact, the propositions I make constitute neither anarchy nor Socialism, but, on the contrary, a corrective to Socialism and an antidote to anarchy...

the most pressing and immediate need is to deal with the cases of those who are on the level, and who are not only in need themselves, but, because of their need, tend to jeopardize the welfare of those who are better off. We hold that under no industrial order, in no commonwealth, in no trade, and in no establishment should industry be carried on under conditions inimical to the social welfare. The abnormal, ruthless, spendthrift industry of establishment tends to drag down all to the level of the least considerate...

The present conditions of business cannot be accepted as satisfactory. There are too many who do not prosper enough, and of the few who prosper greatly there are certainly some whose prosperity does not mean well for the country. Rational Progressives, no matter how radical, are well aware that nothing the Government can do will make some men prosper, and we heartily approve the prosperity, no matter how great, of any man, if it comes as an incident to rendering service to the community; but we wish to shape conditions so that a greater number of the small men who are decent, industrious and energetic shall be able to succeed, and so that the big man who is dishonest shall not be allowed to succeed at all.

Our aim is to control business, not to strangle it-- our aim is to promote prosperity, and then see to its proper division. We do not believe that any good comes to any one by a policy which means destruction of prosperity; for in such cases it is not possible to divide it because of the very obvious fact that there is nothing to divide. We wish to control big business so as to secure among other things good wages for the wage-workers and reasonable prices for the consumers. Wherever in any business the prosperity of the business man is obtained by lowering the wages of his workmen and charging an excessive price to the consumers we wish to interfere and stop such practices. We will not submit to that kind of prosperity any more than we will submit to prosperity obtained by swindling investors or getting unfair advantages over business rivals. But it is obvious that unless the business is prosperous the wage-workers employed therein will be badly paid and the consumers badly served. Therefore not merely as a matter of justice to the business man, but from the standpoint of the self-interest of the wage-worker and the consumer we desire that business shall prosper; but it should be so supervised as to make prosperity also take the shape of good wages to the wage-worker and reasonable prices to the consumer, while investors and business rivals are insured just treatment, and the farmer, the man who tills the toil, is protected as sediously as the wage worker himself...

One camp has fixed its eyes only on the need of prosperity, loudly announcing that our attention must be confined to securing it in bulk, and that the division must be left to take care of itself (Supply-side, free-market, Reaganomics). This is merely the plan, already tested and found wanting, of giving prosperity to the big men on top, and trusting to their mercy to let something leak through to the mass of their countrymen below--which, in effect, means that there shall be no attempt to regulate the ferocious scramble in which greed and cunning reap the largest rewards.

Read the entire speech at http://www.theodore-roosevelt.com/trarmageddon.html
From Teddy Roosevelt's speech at the Progressive Party Convention, August 6, 1912 in Chicago

Ho ho ho!

Teaching 4th & 5th graders about Georges Seurat & Pointillism gave me the opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas

Teaching 4th & 5th graders about Georges Seurat & Pointillism gave me the opportunity to wish you a Merry Christmas

Gadget thumbnails

I 'm trying to make Google Gadgets for my blogs and I'd like them to have pictures in them, but I'm having a hard time figuring out the code.

What happened to Ted's Column; An email exchange

On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 9:45 AM, Mapleton Press wrote:

OMG you haven't fallen off the face of the earth. Oh Teddy I do miss you so much and so do our readers. I can honestly say I have had more positive feedback on your articles than negative and I have had several asking where you are. Please come back to us.

Thanks for the pics I will email Rita for ID. Also thanks for taking pics at the COU concert.

Also I am really sorry to her about Beth's brother... I know the pain it causes love ones. It leaves a tremendous about of questions to those left behind.

Love ya
Maddog

from Ted Mallory
to Mapleton Press
date Fri, Dec 12, 2008 at 3:25 PM
subject Re: COU Christmas Concert


Thanks for all your encouragement. You're a sweetheart.

I still don't know what I'm going to do yet. Brad was right when he called me busy. Christmas & Basketball aren't helping.

And in the wake of Cory's suicide, my head's really in a bad place, so that makes it even harder. It certainly is a hell of a lot harder than losing someone to illness or old age.

Since you're such a good friend, and apparently an avid reader (definitely a major supporter) I'll tell you that it's not necessarily JoAnn's, it's more complicated than that and has a lot to do with how right-wingers were making my family members feel by talking about me.

Although, I will admit that I was getting a lot of hate email and negative blog comments from people other than JoAnn and it all compounded on 8 rejection letters in a row from syndicates for either columns or cartoons- so I was both sick of putting up with people's crap feeling sorry for myself.

So I still don't know where I'm at with it yet. I was just starting to get over it (grief/withdrawls/just taking a break from it/letting go of something that I'd let become too important to me- whatever you want to call it) when my mom had a scare with a spot on her lung (which turned out to be an infection, not cancer- thank God), then one of my Aunts was killed in a car accident, and most recently this Cory thing.

No promises, not even a clue as to whether or not and if so, when...
But huge thank yous for being so tenacious in your kindness, concern, and encouragement. You're the greatest.

Maybe I'll just have to make a point of sending you dumb email forwards or something.

Thank you and Merry Christmas.

Love,
"Teddy"

---

Once again, to all of you who have told me how much you used to enjoy the column or that you've missed it, and all of those who've tired to encourage me over the last couple of months- and especially all of you who've offered your prayers and comfort to either me or our family since Cory's death-

A HUGE thank you. May God return all of your kindness to you when you most need it.
His peace this season (Philippians 4:4-8)

Christmas Special!

I may as well face it, I am busy to write a weekly column anymore, but I can't lie, I really do miss it. What do Americans do when they miss something? Bring it back in "re-runs."

So, in the event that there are actually two or three of you out there who read this blog or who used to read my column and would like to have something to put you in the Christmas spirit-
Click here: http://tedscolumn.blogspot.com/search/label/Christmas to read my Christmas from 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007! INCLUDING my annual interviews with Santa Claus!

Merry Kitsch-mas!

Smaller is better

This cartoonist is a MAJOR right-winger and I rarely agree with him because 9 times out of 10 he's also a blithering nincompoop (er, uh, I mean self-righteous ideologue) but THIS time, I think he's spot on. I never understood why a party that claimed to stand for decentralization of government (state's rights etc.) came up with the hair brained scheme for unfunded mandates and malignant bureaucracy that is "No Child Left Behind" (NCLB).

Part of a dying breed

From Daryl Cagle's Professional Cartoonist Index's BLOG-

"I was sorry to read that Brian Duffy was laid off today. Brian was famous for being one of only two cartoonists in the nation who's cartoon appeared on the front page of the newspaper every day (the other is Corky Trinidad). Our condolences go out to Brian, who is an excellent cartoonist and we apprciate his contributions to our site. See Brian's cartoon archive here."

What is wrong with Gannett? What is wrong with newspapers all across this country? Think I should mail samples of my work to the Register? Seriously, Duffy is one of the greats. Why would they treat him like that?

A note from Bedford Falls

One of my friends once complained that it was too hard to keep up with my blogging because I have too many of them. Guess I'm one of those kinds of people who likes to compartmentalize things. There's a blog for students with assignments and resources, there's the blog for photography and artwork, the one for cheerleaders, the one with prayers and devotions and rants on religion... Then there was this one, the flagship. Initially it was just meant to be the repository for columns that ran in the town paper, then I used it for additional political commentary. Now I'm not quite sure what to do with it. I've never intended to use it as some kind of public diary. I figure, who wants to read just another whiner on the web?

But this has been a challenging week, with the loss of my brother-in-law. I still don't think it would be entirely appropriate to just open up and spew every kind of thought and feeling here in the open. That wouldn't honor my family and their feelings and privacy, let alone his memory.

However, I would like to thank all of you who have shown your sympathy and concern for our families. And for me. At first I figured, it's my job to be strong for my wife and that I really wasn't entitled to much grief of my own. But several of you showed your individual concern for me specifically and I want you to know that it meant a great deal to me.

I also want to thank everyone who's shared with me that you miss my column or wish that it would return. I can't tell you how meaningful your support is. For a while, I was beginning to think that it wasn't just a hobby, but maybe a "true calling." Alas, that doesn't seem to be what God has in mind after all.

Perhaps more than anyone, those of you who prefaced those sentiments with things like "I didn't always agree with you on everything." I mean, dyed in the wool conservatives and people who's views are usually diametrically opposed to mine have said very kind and encouraging things about my writing. If only the handful of people who think that my column "ruined" the paper, felt the same way.

Special thanks to those of you, relatives, neighbors, and even web-readers who've shared that what things I've written have touched you or meant something to you.

Special thanks to our Pastor, Richard Merrill for how he has let God work through him for our family through this whole ordeal. To Rev. Carla from Dunlap for her call to me and her prayer. To Lori and Karen from school (and formerly from school) for their kindness and concern. And to my Brother for his call and his counseling. To my other brother-in-law for treating me like a brother. To all my wife's friends who responded to my emails asking them to hold her up in prayer. And for the chance to visit with Cory's best friends, Alan and Kevin, Friday and Saturday.

To everyone who came through the viewing or to the funeral. I don't know how many people I said this to in the last few days, but the outpouring of love and support from the community reminds me of the last scene in the Christmas movie, It's A Wonderful Life. If only Cory could have let himself accept or be aware of how many people liked and appreciated him, perhaps he'd still be with us.

I'd like to encourage everyone to watch that classic film with new eyes this year. Knowing that there are people suffering with fear and doubt and disillusionment out there- make the extra effort to let everyone you know that they're important to you. And when you yourself are at your most stressed and despairing, realize that your life touches many, many others and even if you're never aware of it, you make a difference, we all need you, and there are always people out there who want to help you if you'll just let them in.

Cool Whip

This anecdote takes a little bit of set up: Our three year old has interesting names for her imaginary friends. She had a "boyfriend" named Jacob Brownie. When she broke up with him, she got Jacob Marshmallow. There's even a Jacob Sundae.

My wife's Grandfather's name was Whilbert Langholdt. For years and years he ran a cafe and bowling alley in Ricketts, Iowa that bore his nickname, "Whip's Lanes."

Recently, although she never knew him (he passed away decades ago), Annamarie tried to explain to us that "Grandpa Whipped Cream isn't dead, he just had to go to his other house."

Obituary

Cory Neddermeyer, 45 of Charter Oak, died Tuesday at his home in Charter Oak.

Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Friday at St. John Lutheran Church in Charter Oak with burial at St. John's Lutheran Cemetery in Charter Oak. The Huebner Funeral Home in Charter Oak is in charge of arrangements where friends may call from 4-8 p.m. Thursday. A prayer service will be at 7 p.m.

Survivors include his wife, Sherri, one son, Nolan, and one daughter, Hallie, all of Charter Oak; his parents, Allan and Marjorie Neddermeyer of Charter Oak; one brother, Mark Neddermeyer of Topeka, Kansas; and one sister, Bethany Mallory of Charter Oak.

Published in the Denison Bulletin/Review from 12/4/2008 - 12/11/2008

Amazing. Over 600 people at the viewing Thursday evening. They had to postpone the prayer service from 7 until 9. The church was filled, including the balcony and there was overflow in the basement. The line of cars stretched from the cemetery to the highway. Over 300 attended the luncheon.

Thank you, everyone who've been showing your love and support to the family during this difficult time. Please continue to lift up Cory's family in your prayers.

A thousand words is worth at least a picture or two

I may not be writing a weekly column for the Mapleton PRESS anymore, but I have tried to clean-up and organize six years of columns and made them easier to find on my main blog. Why not peruse through the humor, history and humus. It's full of "Sex, Politics, and Religion- not necessarily in that order." Or at least, liberal politics, the my misadventures parenting three little girls, and the joys of living in small town Iowa and good old fashioned Midwestern, down to earth common sense Lutheranism.

At least take a look at a couple of columns and give it a chance.

BEST OF TED

• Arizona Statehood Day (Feb 14)
• Book Reports
• Christmas interviews with Santa
• Economic Crisis
• Embarassed by Steve King
• Fourth of July
• History Buffs, read this
• I ♥ Iowa
• Kids say the darnedest things
• Meaningful Quotations
• Support our Vets
• Talking about Religion
• Ted's Kitchen
• Thanksgiving Treats
• The snow blower lesson
• The time I locked my keys in the car
• The war in Iraq
• Yes, I coach Cheerleading