Tom Brokaw gave a booksigning in a bookstore in Big Timber, MT earlier this month, just before I arrived. The book he was signing was his “Boom! Voices of the Sixties”. The Big Timber Pioneer, the only newspaper (a weekly) gave it front page coverage. Not much happens in that lovely little town. Tom lives in the vicinity, in a very lavish sort of place – a real “spread” – a compound with guest houses, an education center, on a river. Angus cattle graze across the road in golden pastures. His is a good life.
So the Pioneer sent Connie Burcham, staff writer over to interview Tom. I read the article because it was timely, because Brokaw’s a writer, and I survived the sixties very well.
The interview, instead, was political. You know Brokaw - past anchor of the NBC Nightly News. He gave some really smarmy (I thought) jabs at our townhall meetings and thinks we should be civil, since we are spreading discord. He called us "troublemakers".
I can't seem to load my excerpts from the paper - something wrong with the tags, so I'll let it go. But I was really angry at the tone of the man and his pontification. Like...he matters.
“The former anchor of the NBC Nightly News said he believed that the discord [in
CIVIL?
And that’s why I wrote the following as an op-ed to the Big Timber Pioneer, which wasn’t printed this week.
September 20, 2009
Dear Editor:
On Thursday, September 17 I read Connie Burcham’s interview with Tom Brokaw. I was visiting Big Timber, staying with a local resident at the time.
Frankly, what Brokaw said and alludes to made me so angry that now, days later, I find myself writing to you.
From Brokaw’s aerie on the river, he can comfortably pontificate on any subject; loss of homes (but not his), lost investments (but not his). He didn’t mention jobs. My town here in
There are no jobs. The difference I see in Big Timber, which seems deflated, is alarming. It looks like the town is dying. There are no jobs here in my town, and real estate isn’t selling. My bank is in dire straits and I have closed my accounts there. The FDIC is in deep trouble, too.
Because Brokaw was a news anchor and somewhat of a celebrity, he fed you and I media-biased news for decades. We all bought it. I bought it, too. And the media continues to spin every piece of information that comes into the news bureau. We are being spoon fed lies. I don’t trust televised news. I get mine from other sources, and yes, that includes the internet. And it’s real easy to beat the bushes and find the right sources – like government sites and places like Drudge.
But that’s not so important. What is important to the great unwashed, is that Obama seems to bring into his administration on a daily basis, another leftist/socialist/Marxist idea or “czar”.
The cap and trade bill will bring us to our knees when implemented (if we let Senate do that to us), and the socialist agenda’s healthcare bill, which is gibberish – no normal person can understand even one page – is really full of draconian measures for all segments of our population. But then, the President and his cronies, and our elected officials don’t have to worry their fair-haired heads, because they have already opted out.
And this was passed by the House of Representatives – people we had confidence in and to whom we left the decisions for our care and governance – the majority of whom didn’t attempt to read it.
Another thing. Are you really certain about Obama being a natural born citizen, or do we have a niggling little doubt about his authenticity. If he is a fraud, an imposter, do we throw his butt in jail or do we hold him and sentence him as a traitor? If he’s not who he says he is, what do we do with him?
If Brokaw’s fortune suddenly evaporated and he couldn’t afford to live in his Eagle’s aerie watching the sun light up the riffles on the river, would he be vexed and angry? You bet.
I admit I have become very politically active. I blog, attend meetings, keep a finger on the pulse of “our” anger and news stories that never appear in mainstream news. I do my best to spread the words of truth. I think I can make that decision for myself. You can, too. And you can make sure your student son or daughter is aware of our Constitution and their rights which are inalienable. You and your children are American sovereign citizens; you do not bow and you do not run, and you will use your freedoms to insure all our freedoms.
I see my rights being trashed rapidly by this administration which is so hellbent on turning the
Be civil?
Are you kidding, Tom? Civility means censorship; the suppression of ideas and speech. And for sure you haven’t an ice cube’s chance in hell in changing my mind. Politicians, including the President are employed by us, at our pleasure. When they don’t do their jobs, they will get fired. If this administration continues to grab our freedoms – whether it’s regarding NAIS, a mandatory inoculation for a supposed pandemic so loaded with squalene and mercury (there is no safe level of mercury), DNA/RNA in a live virus, injected or inhaled (it’s close to the brain and just destroys it more quickly), the cap and trade so full of restrictions we won’t be able to breathe (and who said carbon dioxide is bad for us when trees and green organisms use it in photosynthesis to produce oxygen – was it Gore?) – we are going to get increasingly angry and promptly be put on the White House enemies list.
Our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution gives us the power of enforcement to use all our rights and to defend our country against those without and within who would usurp our rights and freedoms. So yes! I’m going to get in those elected renegades’ faces every day if I can and scream at them until they know we – the teabaggers, the right wing extremists, the wingnuts, the patriots, and whatever derogatory names you call us – mean business.
Civil? No. Civility is not what we need at this critical time in our nation’s history.
Tom - If you were to lose everything…and I mean, everything…you would forget civility, too. You couldn’t live like some of us must. You’re too far out of touch now.
I’m a writer, and I agree that sources must be accurate. The reportage must be thoroughly checked before it goes to print or broadcast. But it’s relatively easy now to find a reputable and dependable source for news outside network news. Give us credit to know how to dig and sift. Got a problem with a bill? You go to the source like the politico who wrote or sponsored the bill; to Thomas.gov or any one of a myriad of sources provided by our government, just like you or your staff did.
When was the last time you read the Communist Manifesto and the 10 point Plan?
The points there become more familiar and applicable to us here every day. Many of us know exactly what government is doing to us and watch the current administration, our Senators and Representatives and “czars”, whittle and whack away at this “perfect union” we were once given on rivers of patriots’ blood.
The people we trusted to elect are not trustworthy. The media is bought and controlled by corporations and information is diluted, spun and transmitted to tired Americans who are working their backsides off while the American dream dies.
But no more, for we have caught on. Truth in reporting? Over 1 million “teabaggers” met in
Obama and his minions are in trouble.
Do not preach to me, Tom, that we need to be civil. We tried it. It didn’t work.
And if the politicians don’t listen to us as we are screaming our discontent, then, as is our right, we will have to use something more effective.
We were given a Republic and it is slipping away because we were “civil” and apathetic for decades.
We’ve only just begun. We are stretching and gathering strength to return our precious Republic to its founding principles.
Don’t put labels on us. We refuse to be labeled as political extremists, as racists, as terrorists or White House enemies or dissidents. The people we elected who are methodically destroying our country are the enemies – the dissidents.
I am a Constitutionalist. I am disillusioned by both parties. They sicken me.
I am a proud American sovereign citizen, a grandmother, who will not be stopped in the fight for my grandchildren’s future in a
I am still a proud American and aware of the responsibilities that go with being a citizen.
We’ve only just begun, because in our wrath, “it ain’t over yet!”
No comments:
Post a Comment