[Vision2020] Looking Under Rocks

[Joan Opyr]

On Aug 13, 2005, at 1:13 PM, Tom Hansen wrote:

> Greetings Visionaires -
>
> After completing a bit up upgrading on my website, I decided to 
> venture over
> to Dale "Doug's Boy" Courtneys public Brainless Log (BLog) and peek 
> under a
> few rocks.
>
> Well, golly gee.  Look what I found:
>
> "Larry
> Posted @ 8/13/2005 12:45 PM
> Whadya know, look who stepped out of the peanut gallery. It's Mr. TF2K5
> himself!
>
> Tom, you are middle-aged. You've maybe got another twenty left, max. 
> It's
> obvious from your posts that you spend little time with Rodna, at 
> least when
> you're not boozed-up. Rodna's on phsyco-tropic medication. You have no
> children. You have a dead end job and you still rent. You have way too 
> much
> idle time, and no motivation to improve your existence. Have you ever
> stopped to think when you might actually start to get a life? (You 
> will only
> start to do that once you hit rock-bottom and realize your pathetic 
> state of
> affairs.)
>
> Man, grow up! (It's not too late.)"

Dear Tom (and other Visionaries):

I'm not surprised that you found this creature under an 
http://right-mind.us rock.  Dale Courtney's blog is crawling with 
rattlesnakes and vipers.  One wonders who Larry is; the Tooth Fairy, 
perhaps?  It rhymes, and Larry, who can't get his facts straight, is 
clearly toothless himself.  That's why he's been obliged to borrow a 
pair of granny's dentures in the hopes of taking a bite out of you.  
He's a worm, and Dale Courtney is running a worm farm.  He and his 
posters spend 24/7 wallowing in the dirt, hoping to drag us all down in 
the muck with them.

But I've got an idea; let's not go there.  Instead, let's stay on the 
dry, grassy land, enjoying the sweet smell of the winter wheat harvest. 
  While we're up here, I'll tell you all a story about the Tom Hansen I 
know.  He's generous to a fault, a tireless advocate for equality, 
diversity, and social justice.  He served in the Army for more than 20 
years, including a stint in Vietnam.  He has earned both my respect and 
my affection.  He records my show on a weekly basis, and sends out CD 
copies to anyone who asks, and he does this at his own expense.  (Tom, 
my grandmother says "thank you."  If it weren't for your efforts, she'd 
never get to hear my show.  That, she says, is because I'm not as good 
a granddaughter as you are a vicariously adopted grandson.)  Tom has 
been happily married to the love of his life, Rodna, for 32 years.  
She's an extraordinarily kind woman who is unstinting in her support 
for religious freedom (and it's oft-forgotten corollary, freedom from 
religion); for racial equality; for the rights of gay, lesbian, 
bisexual and transgendered people; and for her husband, whose tireless 
work on the "Not On The Palouse" website has kept him unbelievably busy 
these past two years.

I am grateful to have the Hansens in our community.  They have enriched 
us with their presence, and it my hope that they continue to do so for 
many years to come.  No one loves Moscow or the University of Idaho 
more than Tom, and if he's the last man standing when the state 
legislature has finished gutting our great flagship, I have absolute 
confidence in the fact that the U of I will make a come-back.  I 
believe that Tom's unofficial motto is never back down, never 
surrender.  There are far too few like him left in the world.

Yours sincerely,

Joan Opyr/Auntie Establishment
www.auntie-establishment.com