Cue the Queen song

I am trying my best to keep down my lunch and not blow chunks all over my keyboard and monitor. I try not to be disrespectful of the dead, but when debauchery filled men are lifted up as paragons of virtue, I have a problem with that.

The death of Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy of Massachusetts is of course tragic for him and his family. I do not wish a death upon anyone, especially by brain cancer. I actually had compassion for Mr. Kennedy, since I could not imagine having brothers of mine assassinated as he did.

I have met and even exchanged brief words with Ted Kennedy, but I did not know him personally. I have, however, followed him politically for years. I do believe that he was perhaps the most powerful Kennedy of the bunch, considering his length of tenure in office and continuous Senatorial powers and influence.

His death was not unexpected. I quickly found the news of his passing in my morning news read. I found all sorts of flowery praise for his years of service, his compassion, his vision for our country, etc. I also found his detractors discussing Chappaquiddick some 40 years after the fact and his liberal record in the Senate.

Here is what I find extraordinary. When Senator Jesse Helms died, I heard quite a bit of rancor from his liberal detractors. There was a lot of hateful, spiteful commentary in the media and from his haters. People rejoiced at his death. Pundits swooned with glee. These same pundits are attacking anyone who now would criticize Helms' archetype in Ted Kennedy.

Today, I have been reading comments from different people I know online. Yes, I have some liberal leaning friends. I read things such as "God bless the Kennedys", "[God] will call a Kennedy home but he'll leave a Barack Obama to insure the vision is alive", and "the legacy [Kennedy] leaves is one of service and compassion for his fellow man."

I will admit that Kennedy had a long history of public service. I doubt he had a private sector job in his entire life. My commentary about blessing the Kennedy family is that I, too, wish blessings upon them. First, understand what the very first blessing is, and then you will understand my blessing prayer. At the end of the Book of Acts, chapter 3, Peter was preaching and said " Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities." It is my honest prayer that an entire family who has never known Christ repents and comes to know Him, thereby finding eternal life.

I seriously doubt that Ted Kennedy is resting in peace as I am typing this. He led a life of drunkenness, debauchery, adultery, and deceit. I compare this to Senator Helms who was a born again Christian. Helms received scorn at his death from a sinful world, Kennedy is getting praise.

Just since I started typing away on this column, I have gotten personal messages from acquaintances touting Kennedy's accomplishments in the areas of civil rights and the passage of the 26th Amendment to the US Constitution. Actually, it was probably more the influence of Richard Nixon that helped in that regard.

There were some things Kennedy supported that I agreed with, but those constitute the minority of his voting record. I am looking at a long list of his major votes in Congress. The vast majority are laws for which no Senator should have ever voted, simply because they were unconstitutional, not to mention often immoral and/or just plain bad fiscal policy. We Americans are going to be paying dearly for the havoc inflicted by politicians like Ted Kennedy for years to come.

Here is the struggle I have when people like Ted Kennedy die. I wish to be respectful, but I also weigh principles such as Jeremiah 12:1 "Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?" Again, with Proverbs 11:10 "When it goeth well with the righteous, the city rejoiceth: and when the wicked perish, there is shouting."

Yes, I really do struggle with these. And I miss Jesse Helms.

Apparently I am "snarky"

The N&O actually made a news story out of the reaction to a state employee taking early retirement rather than lower the flag to half staff in honor of Jesse Helms. I have been quoted thusly:

Former N&O columnist Dan Gearino pondered whether liberals would be celebrating if a conservative made a similarly defiant gesture toward, say, Barack Obama. And in a snarky vein, Selma conservative Troy LaPlante wrote: "Good riddance. One less state employee on the payroll."

So I was snarky. Cool.

Good riddance. One less state employee on the payroll.

I can understand not wanting to pour accolades on an individual with whom you have great disagreement. However, in the military, you are told to salute the rank, not the man. That is how I feel about flying flags at half staff. Like him or not, Jesse Helms did have a long history of loyal public service. One state employee retired rather than lower the flag at his facility to half staff. Good riddance. He is ticked over Helms' opposition to the MLK holiday. I detest that holiday for several reasons, not the least of which is that it replaces other official holidays such as Veterans' Day or Presidents' Day in government as well as private company calendars. I believe it to be an appeasement of a minority at the expense of the majority.


Here is the story from WRAL news:

State worker retires after refusing to honor Jesse Helms

Raleigh, N.C. — A state worker who worked 29 years for the North Carolina Department of Agriculture decided this week to retire instead of lowering a flag to honor the late former Sen. Jesse Helms.

L.F. Eason III, 51, told his laboratory staff not to fly the U.S. flag or North Carolina flag at half-staff, despite a call from Gov. Mike Easley to do so.

When Eason's supervisor confronted him about the decision, he said he would rather retire, Brian Long, a spokesman with the Department of Agriculture, said.

Eason could still face some type of disciplinary action, Long said, but the nature of the action was never determined because he voluntarily said he was going to retire.

Eason told The News & Observer of Raleigh that he did not think it was appropriate to remember Helms because of his opposition to civil rights legislation and the national Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

I am glad you are no longer working off my tax dollars, Mr. Eason. You have zero class and no concept of honor.

ADDED:
The N&O has several stories on the subject. I will add a couple of quotes and links.
From this page:

In an interview, Eason said he was given the ultimatum over the phone.

"I was not given a choice," he said. "I was told if I lowered the flags completely or raised them up, I would be fired."

Here is another piece and a couple of quotes:

"Regardless of any executive proclamation, I do not want the flags at the North Carolina Standards Laboratory flown at half staff to honor Jesse Helms any time this week," Eason wrote just after midnight, according to e-mail messages released in response to a public records request.

He told his staff that he did not think it was appropriate to honor Helms because of his "doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice" and his opposition to civil rights bills and the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday...

In a string of e-mail messages with his superiors, Eason was told he could either lower the flags or retire effective immediately.

Though he's only 51, Eason chose to retire, although he pleaded several times to be allowed to stay at the lab. Eason, who had worked for the Agriculture Department since graduating from college, was paid $65,235 a year as the laboratory manager.

Several people, including his wife, argued to Eason that the flags belonged to the state, as did the lab. But Eason said he felt a strong sense of ownership.

The N&O got the actual emails containing Eason's stupidity. Here is what he wrote the Secretary of Agriculture and the Governor. He paints with a broad brush and exaggerates. Good riddance.

"Regardless of any executive proclamation, I do not want the flags at the North Carolina Standards Laboratory flown at half staff to honor Jesse Helms any time this week.

"This is in no way a political decision. I simply do not feel it is appropriate to honor a person whose epitaph of government service was to have voted against or blocked every civil rights issue that came before the US Congress. His doctrine of negativity, hate, and prejudice cost North Carolina and our Nation much that we may never regain."

Excerpts from an e-mail message that Eason sent later that same day to Gov. Mike Easley and state Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler:

"I made a decision to refuse to lower our flags at the NC Standards Laboratory to half mast in honor of Jesse Helms as soon as I heard of his death. I cannot in good conscience honor such a man who fought so hard against Civil and Human Rights throughout his life. Even to his death bed, he refused to apologize for the damage he caused. Now, I stand by this decision. It is a personal decision, but obviously affects my job at the lab. It has been over ruled by Division and Departmental Management and as I look out my window, I'm ashamed to see the flags lowered ...

"I also understand that my decision is not acceptable. You cannot ignore that fact. There is the law, but there is also a higher law I must follow as a matter of conscience."

Thoughts on the passing of Jesse Helms

I took the weekend off from blogging and a few other things over the weekend to spend time with my new family. It was the second weekend I had off in a while. Two weeks ago, I managed to get away to the beach and this weekend I took a day trip to New Bern. I originally wanted to go to a museum in Kinston, but ended up going to a similar one in New Bern, instead. For true fire buffs, it was great, but for children and non buffs, it was boring. It was also over priced, charing $5 admission for a museum about the size of my house.

Anyway, I read with sadness about the passing of Jesse Helms, longtime NC Senator. Helms, like him or hate him, was a staunch conservative, often being called "Mr. No". Helms was a straight shooter, which I admired greatly. You always knew where Jesse stood on issues. Politically, I had a hard time faulting him on many things. This quote from his Wikipedia entry says volumes to me.

He was an outspoken conservative who opposed communism, tax increases, abortion, gay rights, affirmative action, food stamps, secularism, and government-funded healthcare.

I wish we had 100 men just like Jesse in the Senate.

I do not support some of Helms' apparently racist views. I do, however, support his conservative view points. He was never politically correct in his approach to politics. At least he was consistent. I still have a taped interview that an old friend of mine did with Senator Helms in the early 90's. Perhaps sometime soon, I will digitize it and put it online. I did support his stance in opposition to the MLK holiday, his stance against homosexuality, and a host of other conservative principles that most so called conservatives today dare not touch because a lack of spine.

One evening, I had the distinct pleasure of having dinner with a lady and her husband who live here in Johnston County. This young lady (now married with children) served as a clerk or legislative assistant of some sort in Senator Helms' office in Washington, DC. She apparently kept up with Jesse over the years. She said that he still met with friends and associates, though his dementia had taken its toll on him. It was obvious that this lady had a lot of fondness for the late senator. She recounted several stories of her time spent working for Senator Helms.

Oddly enough, that dinner was one of the things that helped to seal my departure from the Republican Party. I was a charter member of their local county men's club. That night, we had invited Ms. Littler and her husband to speak on her time with the senator. As it turned out, I was the only one to show up from the Johnston County GOP. The ONLY one. Had I not taken my (then) wife with me, the invited guests would have outnumbered the hosting party. I found such a lack of commitment and attendance not only rude but despicable. It was that sort of poor leadership that made me realize how ineffective the GOP really is. That was a portion of my reasons for leaving, but a strong portion.

I pray to God that we had more elected officials with the guts that were displayed by Jesse Helms.