Newspaper Page Text
Page 2
Flagpole Magazine
March 18, 1992
Ed’s
Answers
by Ed Tant
"Youcanfooitoomanyofthepeopfetoo
much of the time/ said humorist James Thurber in a witty
paraphrasing of Uncoin's words. Inquisitive readers "wont get
fooled again* in this election year. Some of your questions,..
1. Did you know that Louts Aims&ong smoked marijuana before
and after every concert and once wrote to President Eisenhower
about pot legalization?
/ knew that trumpet .c ayer Louis *Satchmo* Armstrong
had been a pot smoker Since the 1930's, but l didn’t know
about his letter to President Ike. Armstrong once called pot
a "medicine.' His hemp huffing probably explains his huge
and ever-present ghn.
*
Z. What do the initials "G.O.P. ‘ stand for?
The Republican Party was nicknamed the 'G.O.P." by
party loyalists back in the 18&C'$. The initiate stood for Grand
Old Party. Nowadays the G.O.P. initials could stand for
Greed■ Oppression and Plutocracy.
Abraham Lincoln was the first Republican president but
the party of Lincoln is also the party of such crooks, downs,
hacks, and dinosaurs as Warren Harding, Herbert Hoover,
Dick Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George m CIA* Bush.
3. Where did we get the donkey as a symbol of the Demo
cratic party and the elephant as asymbol of the Republicans?
Supporters of the Democratic party's first elected presi
dent Andrew Jackson, took up the donkey as a symbol after
opponents of the rough-hewn Jackson called him a jackass
during the 1828 election. The GOP elephant first appeared
in an 1874 Harper's Weekly magazine cartoon drawn by
Thomas Nast, the granddaddy of all editorial cartoonists.
Nast used the elephant to symbolize the lumberingi trumpet
ing aggressive party. His cartoons caught on and the
elephant has been a GOP symbol ever since. Nast also
popularized the donkey as a Democratic symbol after he
carried on the tradition of the Jacksonian jackass in cartoons
ha drew during the 1870 s and 188Q's. Nast also created a
popular, jolty image of Santa Claus during the 1860's and his
Tammany Tiger cartoons were credited with stopping a
corrupt political machine in the New York City a decade later:
4* WiB write-in votes be an option In November?
Yes, the Georgia ballot wifi provide a space for write-ins
this faS so voters can cast ballots for socialists, libertarians or
whoever they choose.
Keep Ed in business. Send your questions tool'Answerin'
Ed Iwre at Flagpole, P.0. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603.
We get letters, P.O.Box 1027
Green Thumbs for the Homeless
To the readers of Flagpole,
The Faithful Organic Gardening Project plans to pro
vide vegetable, herb and flower gardens to low income
households and/or neighborhoods in the Athens/Clarke
County area The Faithful Organic Gardening Project
seeks to obtain Block Grant money that is allocated for
self-help projects, or other available funding related to
substance abuse or community development. If this
money is not available we will be looking for other funds
and resources to help support our project. The occasional
use of a dump truck is a resource that we are lacking.
Currently we plan to create a total of 40 gardens for
a varied cliental. Twenty-five of these gardens will be
established for single mothers. Ten will be established
for disabled citizens and the remaining five gardens will
be grouped together to form a community garden in the
most feasible location. Each garden will consist of two
5’ x 3* raised beds, equipped with soil, mulch, tending
materials and seeds.
The implementation and maintenance of these gar
dens will allow participants to enjoy their productivity
while decreasing their dependance on welfare and
food stamps. Ideally, community members will join
together to share the fruits of their time and effort.
Hopefully participants will include the young and the
elderly as well as citizens suffering from substance
abuse who are in need of a new direction. We plan to
teach people how to tend and raise a variety of herbs,
vegetables and flowers while at the same time instilling
pride in the community.
These gardens will be raised above the ground to
simplify tending and harvest for those who have physi
cal limitations. This raised bed technique of gardening
also prevents soil erosion and compaction while allow
ing for the accumulation of essential organic matter. The
process of building these gardens will be in accor
dance with the Georgia Organic Growers Association’s
(G.O.G.A.) guidelines for organic food production. This
type of gardening, which uses companion planting and
renewable resources for soil fertility and insect control,
is free from chemical fertilizers and oil based pesti
cides. By revitalizing depleted soil and using natural
amendments, organic gardens can provide food, flow
ers and fun for all those involved.
As Gardeners we are concerned with soil fertility,
soil structure and their related effects on plant growth.
Our preliminary concern is to revitalizes the depleted
soils we will be working with, without the use of chemical
fertilizers or amendments. Essentially we would like to
help feed people, while at the same time teaching them
an appreciation for the land. By joining together with
community members we feel that a unique, caring and
working environment can be created to provide quality
food for all those involved as well as for others in the
community who are hungry or undernourished.
We would like your help. If you feel that the creation
of community gardens would be a good use of some of
the Block Grant money that is coming into Athens/Clarke
County, please let the members of the government
know. Write and/or call Gwen O’Looney, the ten com
missioners and Joseph Reid, the head of our Human &
Economic Resource Department. If you are interested
in getting more involved in the project give us a call at
783-3685 (Dan) or 548-3873 (Laura).
Happy Gardening,
Daniel Rotberg and Laura Hall
More Vomit stuff...
To J.E. Sumrell and Flagpole:
I’m writing in response to SumreH’s live review of
Vomit Thrower in the March 4 issue of the Flagpole. I am
not familiar with the band, and this is not a rebuttal of
Sumrell’s trashing of the band. I’m addressing Sumrell’s
comment about punk dying when the Sex Pistols walked
off the stage. Sumrell reports, and I quote, “a pimply
faced fat-boy" rudely singing a song called "Sex and
Violence" while throwing condoms at an "uncaring
crowd." Sounds like punk rock to me, buddy. Ben
Weasel, columnist for MaximumRock'n'Roll, argues the
point best in his March '92 column, Weasel writes about
"...a young kid in a band called Total Acne (so named
because the singer has a pizza pie face) out of New
Hampshire. That kinda stuff gives me hcpe. What with
MTV infiltration and all, most boys in bands are growing
"90210" sideburns and copping desperate, world-weary
looks in order to make the finals for Sassy boy of the year,
but up there in the most economically depressed state
in the nation, one pimply faced kid is shoving his oozing
mug into punk rocker’s faces and screaming ‘Deal with
Me!’" Funny how the two articles share similarities, huh?
Yeah, Sumrell, it sounds! ike Vomit Thrower’s fat, acne
faced singer shoved his condoms right down your throat
and said, "Listen, you shit-soft, spinelss, poor-excuse-
for-a-hack writer, we’re punk rock and you suck!" I love it
I don’t want to get real preachy and give you a crap
story on how I think punk’s not dead, because it wouldn’t
phase you. Because guys like you don’t understand that
punk isn’t all that mohawk, 16 hole Docs, three chord riff
crap. Punk rock means "Fuck Bullshit." It’s all about
living the way you want and not letting other people fuck
with you. It’s not a song you play, it’s your mentality.
Signing off,
Doug Ahem, Lunchbox Records
As far as Summit's leash goes, it doesn't matter any more.
He missed a deadline and I killed him. It's a cruel world.
— guest ed.
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