Lucy Loomis

Thanks to Russell Streur, Camel Saloon Barkeep, the Supervisor of Records for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts forced Sturgis Library to hand over all documents with my regard last week.  After reading the documents, I noted the absence of the reason for Director Lucy Loomis' decision to permanently trespass me from Sturgis Library without warning or possibility of due process.  The reason, of course, was the written criticism I'd disseminated one week before regarding library policy on censorship and openness to all points of view and Loomis' egregious hypocrisy regarding that policy.  On the same note, Global Free Press just published an article I wrote regarding the local press' refusal to publish anything about that permanent trespass decree: http://www.globalfreepress.org/editorials/topics/free-press/3427-dereliction-of-duty-journalists-without-journalistic-principles.

The recently acquired documents inspired the following poem.

 

Beware of Marm

With pleasure I will torpedo the ark.

—Henrik Ibsen, “An Enemy of the People”

The ploy was not ingenious, but rather sadly typical of the day,

convenient and diversionary—no counter argument necessary,
just demonize the messenger and ignore what he had to say.

And so on the basis of a single event of cops called and

suddenly confronting me in the public library that day in June,

when I was working in a room alone and quietly,

the Marm in Chief,* who’d invited them, would later write

to the trustees who’d hired her:

Because of his behavior when the police were here they almost

                                                                                                  arrested him.

So now I had an almost-arrested police record, and almost appeared

in the almost-arrested blotter of the local newspaper. 

He can go from calm to extremely agitated in a matter of seconds,

she’d written clinically, though without PhD.

Yet who in their right mind not on meds would not have raised

his voice viscerally

at such a grotesque affront to freedom of speech and expression?

So this is the correct decision for the safety of the staff and public,”

she decided as judge, jury, and henchbitch. 

And out I walked that miserable day in June, three cops by my side,

imminent danger to staff and public safety, though no gun

and bullets in hand, no jihadist bomb belt round the gut,

not even hatred in my eyes, just a pen, paper, and laptop computer.

If he does come into the library, the police have advised us not to

interact with him but simply call them and they will come and arrest him,

she noted, proud of her successful orchestration.

But to the Marm in Chief’s likely dismay, I’ve yet to set foot in her library

since that notorious decree to permanently trespass me,

and so no life sentence in some harsh penitentiary up till now for me! 

…………………………………………………………….

*The Marm in Chief is Director Lucy Loomis, Sturgis Library, Barnstable, MA.  Thanks to Citizen Russell Streur’s perseverance and the resultant positive decision made by the Secretary of Records for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, nine months after that dismal day in June, I was able to view the document containing the Marm in Chief’s above statement. 

Patrick Cassidy

N.B.:  Unsurprisingly, not one of the journalists contacted regarding the above cartoon wished to comment.  Journalists really have become a sad lot today.  TRUTH telling has certainly NOT become their prime motivation.  So many forces push the weak into a particular professional mold.  The forces of business, politics, wealth, advertising, and readership push them to supress TRUTH whenever that TRUTH might be deemed offensive those elements.  Because journalists learn to play the professional game of diversion, deceit, and diplomacy, they pose a threat to the health of democracy. 

George Gascon

Notice of this blog entry was sent to the San Francisco Chronicle and District Attorney George Gascon, two entities that seem bent on truncating the First Amendment.  Imagine if I'd done something similar in China or even in a European country today, where hate laws exist to censor freedom of expression.  Yes, even in Germany or Denmark, for example, I could be prosecuted for such a cartoon, if it involved a German or Danish D.A. and I were a citizen of the country in question. The First Amendment truly makes America different.  American citizens must continually stand up and fight for it... or lose it.  Far too many American citizens remain ignorant and apathetic with its regard.  Far too many other American citizens seek to truncate it.  Hillary Clinton and Obama fall into that category, in particular, with regards their involvement in the Istanbul Process. 

Tracey Ross

 

To The Root (Washington Post Weblog): 
The difference between you and me is that I would publish your response, whereas you will likely not publish mine. The evident reason for that is you do not likely believe in vigorous debate and freedom of speech, cornerstones of democracy. In any case, a satirical cartoon on Tracey Ross is this week's blog entry (http://wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com/). Take a look. Curiosity, contrary to popular opinion, did not kill the cat; PC indoctrination killed her. Silence... is not as golden as you'd like to think.

Paul Pronovost

Scroll down for a larger version and description of those depicted.

 

 

 

Well, it is, I suppose, good to observe that those contacted (see below) are not completely brain dead or rather impervious to anything emanating from outside their safe-zone professional cocoons.  The number of "hits" regarding this post indicate a certain reluctant curiosity. 

From the Editorial for Issue #25 of The American Dissident:
"On another note, it is not always easy to tap into baggage once one obtains it.  Most seek to get rid of it.  But I choose to create from it.  The front cover of this issue resulted from one of my recent pieces of baggage, that is, Sturgis Library’s permanent trespass order against me for mere written criticism, and my inability to obtain any justice at all.  The front cover depicts real community pillars indifferent to that authoritarian denial of freedom of speech and expression.  For the record, the two seated pillars are Karen Wulf (PEN New England) and Carol Rose (ACLU of Massachusetts), both of whom would simply not respond.  Standing and clapping outside the ribbon on the right is Cape Cod Times Editor Paul Pronovost, who also refused to respond and would not print the story.  Inside the yellow ribbon from left to right are Betsy Newell (lawyer and library trustee), Ellie Claus (realtor and former president of the library trustees), Anita Walker (Massachusetts Cultural Council), Lucy Loomis (library director), Daniel Santos (trustee), Ted Lowrie (president of the library trustees), Thomas K. Lynch (town manager), and State Senator Daniel A. Wolf.  Many others of course could have been added.   Perhaps it would be difficult to find a community pillar who wasn’t apathetic.  After all, free speech exists so that citizens can question and challenge the pillars."

...................................................................
Email sent March 6, 2013

To Anita Walker, Betsy Newell, Carol Rose, Dan Santos, Ellie Claus, Karen Wulf, Lucy Loomis, Paul Pronovost, Senator Daniel A. Wolf, Ted Lowry, and Thomas K. Lynch:

You are depicted naked on the front cover of the latest issue of The American Dissident (only $9 per copy if you’d like one!). The cover image is posted here: http://wwwtheamericandissidentorg.blogspot.com/2013/03/paul-pronovost.html.

Please feel free to comment on the blogsite! The American Dissident NEVER censors comments. And vigorous debate and freedom of speech are, after all, the very cornerstones of a thriving democracy. Ah, but is it really thriving here in Barnstable, Massachusetts? Methinks NOT!!!

Thanks to the Internet, this will be part of the public record, you know, the one you'd all like to limit.

Susan Corcoran