From your blog:
>Q: Who do you think you are?
>A: I’m Mark Justice Hinton. Read every word to learn more about me.

Well Mark, I have. Hmmm, another left-over sixties activist still hiding out hoping the revolution will still come.

Regards,
MR

Odds are that your grandparents didn’t go to college, or that your grandfather did and your grandmother didn’t. Surely, your grandfather had a job outside the home and more than likely your grandmother did not. Now, you probably don’t know anyone who can’t get an education or hope for any career they choose.

You probably don’t know anyone who died of a botched illegal abortion.

You probably know someone who is gay and open about it. Someday, the brutal murders of people like Matthew Sheppard will seem as ancient as the common public lynchings of blacks barely a generation ago.

You’ve never seen a Whites Only sign except in a museum or history book.

Chances are good that some female or person of color has rank over you professionally. That didn’t happen 40 years ago. Everywhere you go, people who are not exactly like you have exactly the same freedom. It hasn’t always been so.

I don’t know why you disdain me, but I’m especially puzzled by your confusion: there was a successful revolution — it changed everything for millions of people. I’m not waiting for that, just for the final passing of reactionaries who think tax cuts for the rich are as great an accomplishment. mjh

PS: Thanks for reading every word I’ve written.

I like the simplest definition of a weed: a plant you don’t want growing where it grows.

My wife, Merri, is not only a great gardener, she is also a great weeder. I lack the energy. I think, hell, if it made it there, give it a chance. Almost anything is preferable to the zero-scape of gravel.

So, perhaps I’m the only person in Albuquerque who enjoyed the lush mustard growth brought on by extra rain (some call it London Rocket, a very odd name). I thought it was quite pretty.

Sure, I understand there are genuinely noxious plants, like the beautiful-until-it’s-too-late foxtail, the goatheads, and the water-sucking tamarisk. I understand the “exotics,” the imports, can completely overrun the natives, but we do that ourselves as people — who are we to judge the weeds. Ripping out what grows naturally seems futile. Try leaving something alone now and then. mjh

Fellow blogger Karlos Schmieder asked a question recently:
Is the Blogosphere Racist?

Can we agree on what the blogosphere is? It is not an organization with a leader or central committee (the Web and the Internet are such entities). The blogosphere is a disorganized, organic assembly of people. Which is not to say it cannot be racist — a crowd, a mob, a gang can all be racist.

I think it is fair to define the blogosphere as the creation of those who write and read blogs. To put it in sharper focus: are you and I racist?

No one would be shocked if a middle-aged liberal American straight white male concluded “no, we’re all cool here.” Still, I am entitled to my opinion (and I am so much more than a few obvious facets). I think people are seldom all good or bad — in spite of the examples we can all bring up. Human beings are a mixture of things wonderful and horrible and that mixture is in flux. Regardless of the things we see as dividing us into sub-groups, we are all human beings. We all have the capacity for racism and all of the evils of our kind. Thankfully, we all have the capacity for empathy and love and all of the good of our kind.

I believe one of the things that raised the question was some evidence that the blogosphere is composed of mostly white Americans. And, because the blogosphere is built around links, whites linking to whites — whites not linking to others — may be evidence of racism.

The World Wide Web is about 17 years old. The blogosphere is at most 10. The early days of both were only of interest to nerds, techies, scientists and academics. Gradually, more and more people have fallen under the spell of technology. As more people become involved, the Web becomes more diverse. It is inevitable that it will reflect us perfectly, warts and all.

Anyone can start a blog in 5 minutes. It is far easier than creating a website, not much harder than email. Sure, you need access to a computer and Internet connection (public library); you need some basic skills (public schools); you need to be beyond worrying about surviving poverty (public policies).

There is no question that human beings are hostile to some and generous to others and that as we clump together those feelings aggregate. We are all part of a society that discriminates and is at times racist. We should not deny that nor simply accept that. But one of the things that reminds us we’re all one people is contact, and the Internet has revolutionized contact. Everyone should take advantage of that and contribute to that. Put your life out there. Share. Listen. Empathize. mjh

Start your own blog here:
www.blogger.com

Recently, I wrote a blog entry for www.dukecityfix.com about the public clash of two New Mexican Republicans. In public comments on that blog (see the link above), a very polite Mr Bohnsack respectfully approaches me for an education regarding a parenthetical remark in that blog entry.

Before I oblige his gracious request, I have to wonder: why doesn’t he want to talk about the “swell” story? Oh, he might say it is boring or he has nothing to add. But, before we follow his tangent, let’s not forget what he distracts us from: Republicans are not as united as they pretend (or as they vote). There are important divisions within the Republican party and when Duhbya’s days are done and he rides off into the sunset, it will be very interesting to see where the power goes. My money is on Karl Rove, god’s architect of victory.

As to Matt’s inquiry, let me first thank him for raising me into the company of the Founders. Yes, I am a blogger, a pamphleteer, child of Tom Paine (no kin to Greg). Yes, over two hundered years after the Revolution and the ratifying of the Constitution with its Bill of Rights, I am the epitome of all that. Thanks, Matt, you flatter me, even more than you flatter me by suggesting that I could educate you.

Now, I will agree with Matt that corporate news, like all corporations, is to be regarded with suspicion. Corporations put profits before everything, including the Constitution, the well-being of their workers, the health of their customers. That’s why — libertarians, please look away for a moment — we need laws to curtail man’s greed, selfishness and cruelty. I’m no friend of corporations and I am a natural ally of any schmo sitting at a keyboard expounding on the Truth. Matt and I are brothers.

I have nothing to teach Matt about rhetoric. In short order, he equates bloggers with the Free Press and then suggests that I would try to silence bloggers. Matt, I have 5 or 6 of my own and read dozens, including yours. Find someone I’ve ever tried to silence.

Understand, I’m really tired of this technique of redefining the argument. I’ve watched extreme conservatives hijack public policy with this since Goldwater. Define the terms, create the strawmen, set the agenda.

Still, it is very successful. My response is proof that you can goad people into following you on any tangent. So, though I owe Matt no explanation for a parenthetical remark — 10 words out of 300 — I’ll play along.

In the last 18 months or so, conservatives attacked CBS and stopped them from showing a biography of Raygun. Before it appeared on TV, before most of us had any idea what it might say, conservatives silenced Big Media. I don’t really care — I wouldn’t have watched — but I care about censorship, as I know Matt does.

So, one wonders, what’s that got to do with Rathergate. First, CBS News was planning a different report relevant to the election to follow the one that flowered into Blathergate. And, based on the fallout, they canned that one. I wish I could tell you what it was about, but I didn’t get to see it because censors scared the shit out of CBS. A nail in the coffin? Or a knife to the balls?

Second, the furor over a supposedly faked letter completely drowned out all other facts. There was simply no discussion of how nobly our War President served during Vietnam. No, it was all about fonts and CBS’s liberal bias (Joe Monahan has a great summary of Rather’s long career.).

Liberal bias of the Media. Another gem foisted on us by the Radical Right. And, setting up their own Isvestia — Fox — they explain all media is biased and their Pravda is just one small correction to the leftward tilt. Yeah, right.

Finally, it is nauseating to see the word Watergate twisted into Rathergate (after countless other -gates). Let us not forget that Watergate was a symptom and symbol of astonishing corruption at the top of a paranoid Republican administration. A criminal Republican administration that in turn provided top players in the current administration AND which pales in comparison regarding secrecy. A Republican administration brought down, in part, by a Free Press not nearly so corporate and unaided by bloggers.

The Radical Right works steadily to undermine your confidence in absolutely anything outside of their control. Don’t trust the corporate media (except for the biggest cable news service, Fox, or the most widely heard commentator, Lush Limbaugh). Don’t trust the judges, most of whom were appointed by conservatives. Don’t trust the RINOs who want to rein in their fellow Republicans. Don’t trust the queers, the liberals, the Democrats, the non-Evangelicals or — god forbid — the atheists. No, don’t trust anyone but those holding hands with Duhbya.

And remember, history proves the Right is never wrong. Yeah, right. mjh

PS: Most of the 9/11 terrorists were Saudis; none were Iraqis. No WMDs were ever found in Iraq. There were more terrorist acts worldwide last year than ever before. Facts.

Earth Day 2002

I celebrated Earth Day idling in line at the drive-up window. As I burned my part of the world’s resources, I waited for chemical-laden beef raised on clearcut forest land, served with genetically modified potatoes grown in the desert, watered by rapidly melting polar icecaps. On the radio, the president called for arctic drilling. On the TV, the vice-president called for nuclear power plants. On my cell phone, I called for replacement batteries for my laptop, my digital camera, my CD player, my pacemaker. On my palm-pilot, I wrote “need to get away.” I used a search engine to look for a campground with hook-ups, preferably near a convenience store. mjh

I’ve always been a little hesitant to talk about how good life is. On the one hand, I know that life has ups and downs. I’m glad to be up but don’t want someone who is down to feel worse. And, I’m almost superstitious, thinking one asks for trouble saying how good things are going.

On the other hand, I don’t mind telling Johnny_Mango has it good right now (and has known the ups and downs before). Vibrant and bright and capable of connecting with anyone (even me), he heads out each day to see, to listen, and to note.

Years ago I had the depressing realization that living by example, showing people the way to live, is completely lost on most people. We don’t have the time or interest to observe and learn through observation. We’ll buy millions of self-help audiotapes and instant-better-life-juice, but we won’t spend a minute learning from anyone but the self-anointed experts.

Jon’s too smart to set himself up as an expert and to offer you the 7 Secrets to Living in 5 easy installment. And yet, he’s a map to the good life. Pay attention. mjh

“Let it be impressed upon your minds, let it be instilled into your children, that the liberty of the press is the palladium of all the civil, political, and religious rights.” — Junius

Please read my column on the local struggle over a free press at www.dukecityfix.com. mjh