12 minute read
OPINION
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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
All a distraction
Editor:
The neo-Trump Republicans continue to conjure up fake cultural issues to attack Democrats — masks to protect students’ health, transgender athletes dominating girls sports, pornographic books assigned by English teachers, etc. A favorite target is “critical race theory” that pundits such as Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity rail against.
Odd, because no school district has CRT in their curriculum. No matter, they are outraged that the FBI is tracking and investigating “concerned parents” who speak out their opposition to CRT at school board meetings.
They claim that the Justice Department calls these parents “domestic terrorists.” False, of course. The National School Board Association, which represents 14,000 school district boards, sent a letter to the Justice Department asking it to look into a rising number of threats against school board members such as vandalism of school board members’ vehicles and homes, emails threatening rape, even death threats.
Attorney General Garland responded to local offices to look into these threats, reminding his staff that “spirited debate” is protected, never mentioning “parents” or “terrorism.” They are tracking criminal threats of violence. Oh, well, says Rep. Jim Jordan, (R-Ohio) “concerned parents” should continue to disrupt school board meetings over these rare or nonexistent issues anyway because their freedoms are being stifled by elected officials such as school boards, Dr. Fauci and President Biden.
All of this is a distraction from real issues such as climate change, income inequality, crumbling infrastructure, homelessness, and attacks on women’s health. That is the strategy these so-called conservatives are using as they vote “no” on every Democratic proposal in their plot to regain the Senate and House next year. Tragically, it seems to be working.
John Flynn Goodyear Car wash challenged
Editor:
At my advanced age I have never driven through a car wash. Now it is something I have to do.
I approach the Quick Quack Car Wash in Buckeye with such dread, like someone going through Ray Bradbury’s tunnel, not knowing if you will come out on the other side.
I get up to the entrance and this little giggly girl is directing drivers tires onto this rail. I froze. Finally, the little lady drove my car through for me and did she get a tip.
Driving home, it all came back to me — my PTSD from car washes. When the second husband and I moved to the deep South, we had just bought a new car.
Now, the husband was a very highstrung man who was told not to drink coffee. One morning, after two cups of strong coffee, he announced we were taking the new car to get washed.
If memory serves me correct, the car wash was a wooden building. He drove inside and, all of a sudden, he yelled and pulled the mirror in.
I pulled the mirror in with water hitting my face and, for some reason, the husband jerks the steering and blows out the tire. We limp out of the car, and he changes the tire while I stand under a nearby white peach tree and eat white peaches.
The blown-out tire was worth it for the best peaches I have ever had. Now that’s where my PTSD from car washes comes from.
If the Quick Quack Car Wash wants to plant a white peach tree, I might give it another try.
MARGULIES’ OPINION — jimmymargulies.com
Vickie J. Chelini Buckeye
Remembering Bob Dole
Editor:
Robert Dole, another icon of the GOP who many remember as being sane and reasonable, passed on Dec. 5.
He joins other figures who were the pragmatic and thoughtful leaders of this party, such as Barry Goldwater, John Rhodes, Nelson Rockefeller, Gerald Ford, George H. W. Bush and Jacob Javits.
They were leaders you could disagree with, even vehemently sometimes, and still like and respect. I will still put Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Anthony Gonzalez, Charlie Sykes, Steve Schmidt and Lisa Murkowski in this group, but they have been ostracized from their party.
Sadly, it is a reminder of what this party has now morphed into, which is a disgusting and despicable convention of fools, nitwits, jokers, sociopaths, cowards, psychopaths, morons, idiots and clowns bereft of any morals, values, compassion, courage, intelligence or integrity.
David Compton Litchfield Park
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WEST VALLEY VIEW NEWS | DECEMBER 22, 2021
‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ was a TV miracle
BY J.D. HAYWORTH
West Valley View Columnist
It’s happened again, and it’s not too farfetched to call it a “Christmas miracle.”
For the 56th consecutive year, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” appeared on national television. In 2021, just as in 2020, the Public Broadcasting Service telecast the celebrated animated special without commercial interruption.
A major commercial disruption of this holiday tradition appeared imminent in October of last year. Apple TV+ acquired the exclusive rights to all media related to “Peanuts,” the comic strip that introduced Charlie Brown and company to America. Despite a pledge by Apple TV+ to make “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and two other animated specials available “free” for viewers on the platform over a three-day period, a clamor arose in the Heartland.
Well over a quarter million people signed an online petition protesting Apple’s decision, claiming that it left “us devoted fans who have grown up with Charlie Brown and the ‘Peanuts’ gang in the dark, unable to watch.”
The criticism prompted Apple — beware the mixed fruit metaphor — to take lemons and make lemonade. That’s when the tech giant struck the deal with PBS to air the show over traditional “free TV.”
Questions and varying degrees of controversy have surrounded “A Charlie Brown Christmas” since it was literally on the drawing board. “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz teamed with producer Lee Mendelson and director Bill Melendez to take his characters from the newspaper comics section into primetime TV. By the production standards for animation in the mid-1960s, this presentation was… well, different.
Not only did it look different, with limited animated movement among the characters; it sounded different. No laugh track. A soundtrack that primarily featured the jazz piano of Vince Guaraldi, with a little Beethoven and a couple of Christmas Carols added for good measure. And the voices of the characters weren’t adults trying to sound like kids; they were children.
But the biggest difference was found in the story that Schulz devised. It did not revolve around Santa or Frosty or Rudolph; this was a Christmas story that dealt with the “reason for the season.” Charlie Brown bemoans the commercialization of the holiday; depressed and exasperated, he shouts the question, “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”
Linus answers him, effectively and movingly, by reciting from the Gospel of Luke: “For unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”
“That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown,” he concludes.
A historical observer might conclude that this all came together seamlessly in the year 1965, that the tenor of the times was favorably disposed toward religious expression, and that the creative team was of one accord.
That wasn’t the case.
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As Schulz outlined the story, Bill Melendez objected.
“You can’t put the Bible on television,” the director exclaimed.
Producer Lee Mendelson recalled the response of Charles Schulz: “If we don’t do it, who will?”
Jean Schulz, the cartoonist’s widow, explained her husband’s sense of purpose in an interview last year with Yahoo Entertainment: “He just loved the Bible and thought there were just marvelous things in the Bible that were true.”
Believers and nonbelievers alike can recognize this truth in the resolve of Charles M. Schulz: his insistence on incorporating scripture in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” makes that fi rst “Peanuts” special truly special.
The vagaries of television and the legal wrangling of powerful corporations may conspire to keep this Christmas tradition off of “free TV” next year. Whatever its fate, the message will endure.
Though he left this earthly realm two decades ago, Schulz no doubt understood these words from the Gospel of John: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
That’s the real “Christmas Miracle.”
J.D. Hayworth represented Arizona in the U.S. House from 1995-2007. He authored and sponsored the Enforcement First Act, legislation that would have mandated enforcement of Federal Immigration Law in the 109th Congress.
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Only in America do we fight over holiday cheer
BY DAVID LEIBOWITZ
West Valley View Columnist
At the risk of being politically incorrect in the extreme, there’s an old English insult known as “the Chinese curse” — though apparently no one can actually track it back to originating in China. Anyway, the idea is, the most pleasant times in life are often dull and free of drama. So the curse goes, “May you live in interesting times.”
That we live in times more interesting than any in the last 2,000 years was driven home for me the other night when I had post-golf beers with a few friends and our gathering degenerated into hard feelings over one fellow wishing another who was about to depart “Happy Holidays.”
The guy being wished well stopped a step from the table. He made a facial expression like something was putrid.
“You mean Christmas?” He gave out a theatrical snort. “If that’s what you mean, why not say it? Merry (expletive) Christmas.”
The well-wisher looked one part astonished and one part homicidal. “You’re kidding me, right? You’re bent out of shape because I wished you happy holidays?”
What became apparent from the beery argument that ensued is that — as with everything else in our culture today — Americans appear to be entrenched in several camps over the subject of season’s greetings.
Towards the more “woke” end of the political spectrum, it’s deemed appropriate to make every effort to be inclusive. Thus, phrases like “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Hanukkah” are considered offensive, on the off chance the person being spoken to does not celebrate the holiday in question.
Among many conservatives, meanwhile, it appears that sayings like “Merry Christmas” are a badge of honor — sort of like a “Let’s Go Brandon” for the holidays. Despite the fact that some people may be offended when you say it, you say it anyway, and you do so proudly, because saying things that offend some people apparently brands you as a member of the cool kids’ club.
Then there’s the third group of people, to which I belong. My guess is, this group comprises approximately 9 out of 10 Americans with an IQ above, say, room temperature — at the North Pole. In an igloo. In mid-winter.
Members of this group don’t take pride in actively offending people, nor are we offended when people make a sincere effort to wish us a “Merry Christmas” or any other sort of good day. If the holiday in question happens to be one we don’t celebrate, we give the person credit for trying and we say something clever in response. Like, “Thanks! You, too!”
We handle situations like this in stride because we prefer not to spend our time on earth policing holiday greetings or arguing over minutiae. Not that we’re averse to arguments, understand.
But we prefer to save our fighting for truly earth-shattering topics, like whether “Breaking Bad” was a better series than “The Sopranos” (by a smidge) or which Valley community has the worst drivers (Apache Junction during snowbird season, hands down).
In our world, a phrase like “Happy Holidays” isn’t linguistic code for anything other than a genuine wish that the recipient enjoy the time period between late November (the beginning of Hanukkah this year) and late December to early January (which includes Christmas, Kwanzaa and New Year’s).
For us, being in the holiday spirit also means cutting our friends and kind strangers a little bit of slack.
To recap: If we meet each other, feel free to wish me season’s greetings, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah or whatever floats your boat. When you live in interesting times, you take your merriment and wishes for happiness wherever you can find them. Because only in America are we cursed to fight over holiday cheer.
David Leibowitz has called the Valley home since 1995. Contact david@leibowitzsolo.com
Humble King
