August 26, 2008 03:58 pm
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Club remembers Alben W. Barkley
An editorial that appeared recently in this newspaper pointed out that memories of the late Alben W. Barkley are waning in Kentucky. The “Veep” who served as vice president with President Harry Truman, and many years as a U.S. senator from Kentucky, was considered one of the four most powerful men in Washington for many years.
His reputation for independence and fiery rhetoric that often moved both houses of Congress to his point of view was the reason a group of political activists in Greenup County named their organization “The Alben W. Barkley Democrat Club” more than 40 years ago. Today, with more than 200 members, the Barkley Club is well known for exerting Alben W. Barkley’s enthusiasm for independence and determination for serious activism in political affairs.
Over the years, the Barkley Club’s goal has been to identify the best possible candidates for elected office and then to work tirelessly to help them win election.
It is believed the Barkley Club is the only organization in the state that fuses or separates itself from the dictates of the Kentucky Democrat Party, depending on issues. So important is the group that the only appearance that Gov. John Y. Brown made outside Louisville when he announced his short-lived campaign for the U.S. Senate was to the Alben W. Barkley Democrat Club.
“I would rather be a servant in the house of the Lord than to sit in the seats of the mighty” — the Veep’s last words before his death — are as fresh today in the minds of members of the Alben W. Barkley Democrat Club as they were more than a half century ago. For this group, at least, Alben W. Barkley’s memories are very much alive.
Soc Clay, South Shore
Platform proposal extends rights
Equating the civil rights struggles of African Americans with those of any other group of Americans is erroneous and inappropriate. Learning from our history is only prudent.
Last week in Pittsburgh the Democratic Platform Committee passed the most pro-LGBT proposed platform in party history.
The platform calls for passage of an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), federal hate crimes legislation, a national HIV/AIDS strategy, an end to the failed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, opposition to the “Defense of Marriage Act” and similar initiatives, and security in adoption rights for all caring parents.
For the first time the platform amends the Democratic Party's description of family to include same-sex couples.
Kentucky delegates to the convention will vote on this historic proposed platform, and when they do, they should remember the example and challenge of the late Governor Ned Breathitt, a Democrat. In his 1963 inaugural address, in the midst of the civil rights movement, Breathitt called on Kentuckians to be “first in nobility of spirit, first in their determination to cast away hate, bigotry and prejudice.”
Breathitt understood that when we deny the dignity of any one of us, we actually diminish the dignity of all of us.
Outside of Jefferson and Fayette counties and the city of Covington, Kentuckians can be denied service at a restaurant, refused housing, or fired from a job because they are gay. Kentuckians are regularly denied custody of their children based solely on sexual orientation.
Breathitt wasn’t content denying civil rights to a minority. He had the courage to lead even when his opinion was not necessarily supported by the majority. In 2004, more than 417,000 Kentuckians voted against writing discrimination into our state Constitution. Those Kentuckians may be looking for a leader. Perhaps it will be a Democrat.
Christina Gilgor, Executive director, Kentucky Fairness Alliance, Frankfort
Government must enforce the law
In 1986, we granted amnesty to 2.7 million illegal aliens who were within our borders. This was supposed to solve our illegal immigration problem. Predictably, it only made the problem worse.
Today, we probably have at least 20 million illegals in our country. And it will get much worse if we grant them amnesty.
The only solution is to demand that our federal government enforces our immigration laws. It certainly is not doing that. We have troops all over the world protecting other nations. Let’s bring some of them home and beef up the security of our own borders.
Next we must enforce laws pertaining to document fraud and the hiring of illegals. Hence, many illegals will leave our country because no one will hire them. Also, we must cancel granting automatic citizenship to infants born to illegals, a violation of our Fourteenth Amendment. We then can begin deporting the remaining illegals as President Eisenhower did in 1954.
What we must not do is to reward illegals with amnesty for breaking our laws. We can be sure that is what our sneaky Congress is planing to do after this year’s election. Let’s not let it happen!
Milton Edward Ventresca, Canyon Country, Calif.
MDA telethon is this weekend
Every parent wants to see their child succeed, and every child has a unique set of life circumstances and challenges they must overcome.
When our daughter, Abbey, was born, my husband Joel and I never imagined how great her challenges would turn out to be.
Abbey, 9, has a form of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT). This neuromuscular disease causes ever-increasing muscle weakness, especially in Abbey's legs, and affects her balance and coordination.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association has been there for us from the start, as it has for millions of others for almost 60 years. MDA offers help and hope by funding research aimed at finding cures for CMT and more than 40 other muscle diseases. Significant progress has been made.
This year Abbey is serving as MDA's National Goodwill Ambassador. Together we've traveled the country, meeting hundreds of MDA volunteers and sponsors who are working toward realizing MDA’s goal of cures and treatments for neuromuscular diseases like Abbey’s.
On Labor Day weekend, the 2008 Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon is 211/2 hours! of entertainment and interviews with families (including ours) who are coping with muscle diseases, including ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) and Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Please watch the Telethon this weekend and join in MDA's fight to make dreams come true.
Wendi Umali, Redlands, Calif
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