I have spent much of the last two weeks posting on the News & Observers web page. Jesse Helms' home town paper. I went there in the hopes of engaging in dialogue to help myself understand how they lived in the shadow of this twit for all those years. I discovered a great deal of local negative comment buT also a great deal of residual respect for Senator Helms. I attempted to take that into account in my posts: The persistence of ignorance...jt North Carolina is far too comfortable with bigotry and bigots for my taste. If Jesse Helms had no comfort zone of wide-spread social acceptance at home, he would not have had a platform in Washington to do such harm for so long. Getting to know a place that accepts utterly unacceptable bigotry, I'm beginning to understand why the people of North Carolina have no way to judge just how ugly and ignorant Jesse Helms made America and Americans look to the world. Charming...jt ========>>>>> COMMENT FROM HELMS SUPPORTER >>>>> Posted by: SFPNCNative 2008-07-20 10:42:54Rated: 0 by 0 users. re persistence of ignorance This article confirmed what I've always heard, that Jesse Helms was a true loyal friend whether you shared his views or not. Jesse Helms was a man who loved his state and fought for what he believed regardless of personal criticism. Bill Friday is a well-educated, very wise, genteel, Southern leader, and I listened to him weekly when I lived in N.C. It doesn't surprise me that he and Helms were good friends. I did not vote for Helms, but I always respected him. And he did have a sense of humor. The writer of the comment above has his opinion. But words come cheap. Actions come at a cost; sometimes a very painful, personal cost. The writer used words that only denigrate his name, not the name of Helms, Friday, and the state of North Carolina. <<<<< COMMENT FROM HELMS SUPPORTER <<<<<======= The Persistence of Ignorance, Part II...jt I have spent much of the past 2 weeks attempting to understand how a man who is so universally despised where I live (California, New York & Europe) for actions & positions that are considered both harmful & hateful, retains respect in the state that sent him to the US Senate 5 times. Much of what I've learned has come from the Cracker-Jack reporting of Rob Christensen. I respect the facts that Sen. Helms worked hard; served his constituents diligently and was a loyal friend. I see that he had charm & wit. The Persistence of Ignorance, Part III...jt I also found a quotation that I greatly admire on a Fundamentalist web page that I dislike: Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-GA) said that he first arrived in Washington, DC, Senator Helms told him: “Young man, remember Washington is a city in which the urgent drives out the important. Your job is to get up everyday and put the important at the center of your job – and keep it there as long as you can.” I would like to see that inscribed onto brass plaques and installed on the wall of every Senate office. BUT... The Persistence of Ignorance, Part IV...jt None of those virtues stand up to the immensity of the harm that Senator Helms did to America. One must balance the stain of his unrepentant racism, virulent homophobia, disparagement of the rights of anyone who did not share his narrow-minded views, his imbecilic comments on AIDS, ultimately expressed in the "Helms Amendment" that caused hundreds of thousands of Americans to live & die with preventable HIV infections --- infections which continue to spread geometrically to threaten the lives of our children and grandchildren. I ask only that you put those accomplishments on the scale before you run up the flag for this national disgrace, Jesse Helms. The Persistence of Ignorance, Part V...jt I was hoping that other writers would step in so this would not become a monologue but there is more to be said. Senator Helms, with the complicity of a craven congress, passed the "Helms Amendment" which blocked Federal funding for aggressive proven-effective HIV prevention measures at the epicenter of the epidemic when HIV could have been effectively arrested before it spread. As a consequence, the State of North Carolina now has 32,583 HIV infections (cumulative through 12/31/07) many if not most of which would never have occurred if we had not been constrained from taking appropriate measures to contain the epidemic. Take that as Jesse Helms legacy to North Carolina. The Persistence of Ignorance, Final Comment...jt Unlike anonymous slanderers with cryptic screen-names, I post using my real name. Anyone can google it to see what I have written & done. For the last 25 years, I've devoted my life to prevent the spread of HIV. I've directed programs in the US, Eastern Europe & recently in Africa. In that time I have held dozens of wonderful men & women --- Including my partner, Jennifer, who was infected when she was raped --- as they died from this horrible disease. In that time, I've had to work against Helms' obstructions & listen to your elected-bigot talk about decent people, who I loved, as if they were dirt on his shoes. You can eulogize this vicious bullying coward, if you must, but you can not say that I've not earned the right to my words or my outrage.