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A Plea Against SPAM
PoetryRepairShop has been overwhelmed by requests and petitions for, about, against
this war or that,supporting government or that, contributing to this party or that.
PoetryRepirshop is PRO poetry and nothing else. I haven't enough time to
respond to submissions; I surely will not respond to what has become a SPAM
campaign, albeit a well-intentioned one (from the point of view of the senders, that is).
And, please, make no mistake: I am very proud that our poets and readers feel so close
to me that they see their mailings as 'to a friend'; but, I am terribly swamped.
I'm wondering. Should I email JCPenney as I do business there. I have a Ford, a GMC,
and a Chevrolet parked in front of my house; Should I write to those corporate
headquarters. I am also wondering if I should bother the Hospital that did my son's
operation. I think not.
The right to petition is ensured in the United States Constitution. It is an inalienable
right and those who claim that right should not abuse it. My incoming email box for
Editor at PoetryRepairs included no less than 156 requests to forward this or that
petition. I have become jaded against them. Monday was worse than today. I had
254 requests on Monday.
I think of myself as a 'friend' of poetry and of poets (especially those poets who
have been published in PoetryRepairShop. But please please please do not send
personal action items for me to sign. Do not ask me to forward something to all
my friends - I am not nor are they eager to join a SPAM campaign.
Everyone who has a college degree from an American instituion knows that
creative writing, poetry, theatre, English departments in Colleges and Universities
tend to lean left. But - dare I say it without retribution- 'I am personally a conservative'.
If you are not liberal at age 20, you have no heart; if you are not conservative by
age 40, you have no brain. That's a good recommendation for life. I am also liberal.
The purpose of government is first of all its oblication to protect its citizens. Fourier
(the French socialist) one said that the good of a nation is shown by how well it
cares for its weakest - women (in the 1800s), children (child labor laws in the 1900's),
and the handicapped (naturally, accidentally, militarily).
So, on social issues 'at home' I am liberal. I believe such things as an end to slavery,
including wage slavery (we call it 'mimimum wage' and define it high. In America $5.15
is the present 'minimum wage' which translates into an annual income of approximately
US$ 10,712 while one party or another pushed for seven dollars an hour or an annual
income of $14,560. That's quite amazing as many American think that those incomes
are half the amount usually cited as being 'wealthy'. Yes, I say, stop the enslavement
of animists and Christians who live in the southern provinces of Sudan. Comparing
Moslem enslavement to US 'minimum wage earnings', our 'poor' are not quite THAT poor.
Some argue we should lay aside the issue of minimum wage and focus on the
dreadful Sudanese enslavements and genocide. Others say take care of our own
first. But Sudan is our problem for if any one ignores slaves and slavery then we
are all slave traffickers or slave drivers. Why not deal with both. In my world it is
reasonable to give foreign aid to a country... but the sum that country receives should
be matched by federal 'aid' to one of the American states. I believe in using English
as our national language because the world uses English in global exchanges. I have
seen Finnish boat captains talk to Russian harbor pilots in English; English is a global
language. I think our school should teach English (as a foreign language) and students
should also learn one of the global languages (French, Spanish, Arabic, Swahili, or
Chinese). I could go on and on (and I often do!). I think of my position vis-a-vis
government as 'nation's rights' - akin to states' rights but a bit more informed a bit
less provincial.
And, when it comes to religion, I believe the amendment requires NO law regarding
the establishment of religion to mean neither the city sponsored Christmas/Channukah
scene but also NO law of zoning (as in strip clubs no closer than 500 yards from
a church).
But the important point is that I do not send hundreds of emails for people to join my
personal crusades. Please do not SPAM editors with requests to sponsor your pet
project (I also get a lont of junk mail asking if I would help a student with his or her
homework. I don't do that either.
Copyright 2006, editorial, all rights retained |
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