John Lacny: Hidebound, sectarian, old-thinking? No and Never!

I noticed -- early this morn Idaho time when I got up  -- that a few shots
had been fired on Marxism at my very good friend, John Lacny. This is a good
humoured but firm and candid response on behalf of John -- who really needs
no shields.  But loyalty to Family and Friends is part of my deepest ethos.
To be blunt, I don't like arrows-after-John anymore than I like people on
ASDnet going after Louis or Carrol.  But, in any event, like Louis, John
Lacny is one of the really quite good people that I've gotten to know very
well on list and off -- although, again like Louis, we have never yet met
face to face.  If John and Louis come to Idaho [always most welcome at our
Camp], or I go East, we certainly shall.  That holds true for Carrol and
others as well. I find John creative, sensibly eclectic, and anything except
hidebound, sectarian, old-thinking. He's also committed as hell to sensible
radicalism and sensible militancy.  I, having just hit 70 [something some
people neither expected me to, nor in other instances wanted me to] always
do appreciate a younger person who values age and experience.  Come to think
of it, that has something to do with the Indian Way.

Much of this stems from the upcoming 2004 elections.  I'll be as direct here
as I have been at various points on my own lists:  Redbadbear, Marxist
[which John founded] and SocUnity.  Last time I around, we [almost all of
our family -- and all of us in Idaho] voted for Nader/LaDuke.  No apologies.
Billy Clinton lost Gore the election, not Nader.  This time around, although
I can't speak for everyone, our whole family I suspect is doing a Demo
ticket.  With the smell of fascism [a word I never use lightly] ever
stronger, we simply see the stakes as too damn high to do anything else.
Idaho is ostensibly Republican through and through at this point [hard to
believe Senator Frank Church was once a power here and Senator Glen Taylor
as well -- and, if you know who Taylor was politically, you may even be
older than I.]  But we'd do the Demo thing this time wherever we lived in
what's called the United States [although in some other settings we might
have a worthwhile non-Demo option or two at the very local levels.]

Our family in Idaho is currently tooling up to support very feisty Lin
Whitworth for Congress -- against the current occupant [Simpson, a very
conservative Republican.]  Lin, a month or two older than I, is the senior
Labor person in the state, and for years was the Demo/Labor leader in the
state senate.  He also happens to be the grandfather of my youngest
daughter's [Josie] extremely -- very extremely now -- special friend,
Cameron, a fine IBEW activist.  Yesterday's Idaho State Journal had a large
front page color photo of Lin announcing his candidacy and attacking Bush et
al. -- and looking more than a bit like a prophet out of the Old Testament.
Lin, BTW, is also LDS -- don't flinch, Yankees -- but I believe he drinks at
least as much coffee as I [and I do gallons.]

I also noticed a shot taken at the Almanac Singers.  At Christmas, a year
ago I got TWO copies of Salt of the Earth and TWO copies of Shane [each in
DVD.]  This Christmas, I got a CD of Talking Union [Almanac singers] --
which has just come out in that format and is available via Labor Heritage
Foundation.  I strongly recommend it.

We also have a new, young dog:  one half Chow and one half Husky.  Gets on
well with our older Shelty and the older Cats.

And now to the Almanac Singers. Time to wake this House up.

Hasta Luego -

HUNTER GRAY [HUNTER BEAR]
www.hunterbear.org

When you cut to the bone  and cut away the college degrees, academic and
other titles, published books and articles, ours is essentially a working
class and Indian family.  We consistently join unions  -- and we always
support them with the greatest vigor.

It's critical to always keep fighting -- and to always remember that, if one
lives with grace, he/she should be prepared to die with grace.




"[C]apital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and 
dirt."
--Marx, Capital, Vol. 1, Chapter 31

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