OK, I tried to not comment on the passing of Jesse Helms. Democrats and Republicans alike, can agree that the man was an easy target. Poking fun at Jesse or coming down hard on his political career would be like shooting fish in a barrel.
Sometimes, you try to avoid something like paying bills, getting the toothache looked at, or going to the doctor to have that mysterious rash identified, only to have it come back to bite you. Well this is one of those times. The Jesse Helms death story has bitten me. In all things humor is found.
As many of you know, I reside in North Carolina, Raleigh to be exact. Here in my newly adopted home state, the Democratic Governor ordered that all flags on state property be lowered to half staff. Everyone complied, with one exception, the head of the North Carolina Standards Laboratory refused to lower the flags outside his office and was forced into retirement as a result. Jesse Helms dies and drags a liberal down with him, sounds fitting.
The head of the lab, L.F. Eason, instructed his staff to not fly the flags at all. Here . His reasoning was that he wouldn’t honor Helms because of the former Senator’s “doctrine of negativity, hate and prejudice.” Apparently as the head of the North Carolina Standards Laboratory, Mr. Eason had developed some standards of his own. Those standards, when applied, found that good ole’ Jesse was not entitled to such a tribute.
Mr. Eason paid for his insolence and was asked to retire immediately if he would not comply with the edict of Gov. Easley. He retired and stood by his protest. Freedom of speech isn’t always free and Mr. Eason provides yet another example.
So you wondering, does the PolitiPornster agree with Eason? In a perfect world, I’d say Mr. Eason was right. Jesse Helms was a bastard, plain and simple. There’s a whole laundry list of crap, mostly racist, that Jesse Helms is guilty of. Jesse gets on my shit list though for his ignorant and insensative handling of the Aids crisis.
Here’s the short and skinny: Jesse Helms opposed the first major piece of AIDS Funding legislation offered to the Congress. This was the Kennedy-Hatch AIDS Act of 1988 which provided funding for AIDS research. Jesse Helms opposed the bill and stated that “there is not one single case of AIDS in this country that cannot be traced in origin to sodomy.” In the 80’s many of us thought that AIDS was quite literally, The Gay Plague. However, by 1988 we had all been introduced to the so-called “innocent” face of AIDS. That first innocent face of AIDS belonged to Ryan White.
For those that don’t know or remember, Ryan White was a child who contracted HIV AIDS through a blood transfusion in 1984. After being diagnosed with the disease White was asked to leave the school attended. After a long court battle, thank God for Trial Lawyers – the bastards, White eventually was allowed back into school. Ryan and his mother started a public awareness campaign to educate the public on how HIV/AIDS was transmitted. Mrs. Ryan lobbied Congress hard on Ryan’s behalf. Her efforts were rewarded with the Kennedy-Hatch Act of 1988.
During her lobbying efforts, she spoke with 23 members of Congress. Both sides of the aisle were well represented. However, one member of Congress refused to meet with her. This fellow even refused to speak with her while they rode the same elevator. This ignorant and inconsiderate jackass was her most fervant opponent on the Hill. This guy’s name was Jesse Helms, Republican – North Carolina.
Now, was Mr. Eason wrong in not wanting to lower his standards and the flags? It’s a personal judgment really. In the military, I was taught that we saluted and honored the rank of the officer. You didn’t necessarily need to personally like or privately respect the guy/gal wearing those stars or bars. With that in mind, I respect Mr. Helms service to this country and I respect his former position of senator. Thus, I’d lower the flags for that stuff but not the man.
Dear Collega Lawyer Boy;
It was not about freedom of speach. It was simply about submitting to authority. If a State Trooper asks you to get out of your vehicle and you don’t believe you are guilty of the reason he pulled you…. It’s not free speach.
You can’t blame some liberal’s actiions on a dead buy, regardless of who he was. He wanted his fifteen minutes and he got them. Now he can write a book or something.
Also it was nice of your to give your first cousins an honorable mention. Those trial lawers we all love to hate… unnnntill we need one ourself.
I will close by saying: it looks to me that there wasn’t a spit of difference in Jesse Helmes and L.F. Eason. When both men were faced with evidence of the correct thing to do they each turned their backs to it! Pot/Kettle
But hey that’s just my (correct) opinion. I ain’t no lawyer-type or nuttin.
Pornster, you focus on an act Jesse Helms did 20 years ago! Senator Helms made amends in my view when he sided with Bono for raising millions of dollars for AIDS projects in Africa. People change over time…even Gov. George Wallace of Alabama made amends. I met Sen. Helms several times as I attended his church…Hayes Barton Baptist Church. At the time I met him, I did not agree with him, but found him to be very likeable and humorous. The media constantly villified him no matter what he said or did. I have grown to respect him over the years and voted him only in his last term.
A man who serves in the U.S. Senate for over 30 years derserves our respect and the flags should be lowered. I will lower my flag for Ted Kennedy when he goes even though I really do not like the guy.
@M54 – Actually this was, albeit in a nuanced way, a freedom of speech issue. Mr. Eason was allowed without the imposition of some form of prior restraint to express his views and he paid for it. Rightfully so. I merely brought up the speech as an object lesson that free speech does come with a price and sometimes it can be you job. I doubt anyone will read his book.
@The Fallen – I agree that anyone who serves in the Senate and does honorably (without being ousted legitimately) deserves to be honored by his country and particularly his state. It was refreshing and fitting to see a Democratic Governor order flags to half staff for Senator Helms.
As for what he did 20 years ago, he did it there’s no running away from it. It’s great that he made amends later on, but it would have been more commendable and forgiveable had he made those amends personally to Ryan White before he died.
I think your focusing on the Ryan White incident is misleading to your readers since Sen. Helms helped fund numerous Aids projects in Africa. I disgree with Sen. Helm’s dissing of Ryan White, but believe that it does not reflect the true person Sen. Helms was.
Easley ordered the lowering of the flags because he plans to run for Richard Burr’s seat in the U.S. Senate and he did not want to diss the conservative base that loved Sen. Helms.
Not that I want to bore folks with NC Politics, but it would have been nice to see Easley run for Elizabeth “I can’t find NC on a map” Dole’s senate seat. I understand his logic, Burr’s just an easy target.
Yeah, Burr does not have the star power Dole does, but I do like Burr. Easley has a strong chance of unseating him unless this flap with his wife gets ugly.
One more thing, Helms adopted a boy in 1962 who had cerebral palsy. He had heard that the kid wanted a Mom and Father for Christmas so he adopted him and raised him. I think this is a clear indication of Jesse Helm’s kind heart.
I know folks are falling asleep with the NC Politics chat, but I totally forgot about the Mrs. Easley debacle. Easley’s chances are pretty much compromised in my opinion and that story has some pretty strong legs here in Raleigh. It will dog him in the election, no doubt. He might want to consider a back-up plan, like maybe unseating Erskine Bowles over at UNC.