A Letter From Mike Sharley, Attorney

The following was xeroxed from my hometown newspaper by my mother and sent via snail mail. I have typed it out word for word here. This letter was written by Mike Sharley, an attorney in my hometown. I contacted him when the letter arrived and asked for his permission to post it here and I told him I use the "f" bomb liberally and would understand if he did not want to be associated. This morning I woke up to his full permission and he also sent a couple of youtube links. Mike is disabled but not really since I consider him more abled than I will ever be. He was not my contemporary but both of my sisters knew him well as children and adolescents. Mike has never been personally held back by his disability and in fact has achieved more than I in my supposedly able body ever did and ever will. The school system wanted to tag him as "retarded" but Mike is and never has been retarded. Mike has a great mind and a great heart and soul and ranks on my list as one of the most intelligent people I have known. Mike is an Attorney in Morgantown WV and based on my google searches he works every day for the rights of the disabled and the rights of those otherwise invisible.


Community organizers big part of American history

Vice-presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin gave an acceptance speech that was very effective to anyone who considers themselves a community organizer. She mocked Sen. Barack Obama for being a community organizer and not having real responsibilities. However, community organizers have been a very important piece in the history of the United States of America.

During the period of the American Revolution, community organizers such as Samuel Adams, Thomas Paine and Abigail Adams promoted and advocated the patriotic spirit which led to the independence of the United States. During the Civil War, community organizers such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman fought to free thousands of African Americans from the bonds of slavery. And community organizers such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks fought against segregation in the 1950s and 1960s. In fact, a community organizer named Nelson Mandela became the first black president of South Africa after being housed in prison for 27 years for his community organizing activities.

If it wasn’t for community organizers in American history, there may not have been an end to slavery or segregation. There may have not even been a patriotic movement that led to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Ironically Palin began her political career as a community organizer. She was a member of the PTA and fought for better schools in her community.

Palin seems to gloss over her community organizer past in order to mock the experience of Obama. If she really understood the history of America she would celebrate Obama’s and her own community organizing and not mock the patriots of the past for her own political benefit.

Mike's Totally Great Video about Medical Coverage for the Disabled
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADEa1AdEVFA

Mike on voting for Obama in a Red State
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxpUhvEFI_I