Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Editor’s Note:  Belacqua Jones is back! Well, he’s not really back.  He’s in hiding.  After being charged with DUI, grand theft—auto and resisting arrest (Belacqua swears he was just batting a mosquito away and not swinging at the arresting officer.)  He escaped by rolling out of the squad car transporting him to jail and fleeing into the New Jersey wetlands.    His letter was attached to the rock he put through my front window.  Along with the letter was a note threatening to put my sociopathic Tom cat on Prozac if I didn’t restore the original name of the blog.  Since the Tom and I are still engaged in a running battle over whom the alpha male of the house is I agreed, because a contented, but suicidal, Tom isn’t much of a challenge.   His letters will be a little less frequent since writing paper is hard to come by in the wetlands.      Dear George,   Sorry to be so long in writing, but I’ve been tied up by affairs of state.    Don’t take it personal, but there are times you need some tweaking—just a little to firm your jaw and steel your gaze.  For example, when you were Governor of Texas they called you Conan the Barbarian for the swath you cut through death row.  Once a person was condemned to death in your territory, it was a given they’d leave jail on a gurney looking like a pin cushion.    I’m sure that with all the affairs of state cluttering up you mind you may not have realized that in the nearly four years you’ve been in office you haven’t executed a single soul.  If you’re not careful, your francophilic opponent will accuse you of being soft on crime. Granted, you’ve had 900 members of our armed services blown away in Iraq, but that’s not the same.   The great thing is that executing someone is a cakewalk now that you’re in office.  Between the Patriot Act and your powers as commander-in-chief to declare anyone an “enemy combatant” you’ve got it made.  You have an opportunity for slaughter that would make your reign in Texas look like life-support.   This could be a potentially great run up to the election.  Have Ashcroft round up a bunch of minority types.  With a stroke of the pen you declare them enemy combatants.  Then you shoot the juice to one a week until the election.  This is sure to stamp your credentials as the only man fit to lead us in the war against terrorism. Bear in mind that your clone, Allawi, hasn’t been in office two months and already he’s blown away six suspects.  It’s catch-up time, George.    Stay firm, baby.     Your admirer, Belacqua Jones                          1:55:34 PM    comment []

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Shooting Themselves in their Evangelical Foot       There is a strange phenomenon abroad in the nation.  The religious right, which is made up of blue collars and the working poor, throw their votes to the political party that is trashing their lives—the GOP.  They are so wrapped up in culture wars and wedge issues that they vote for the party that is closing their factories, breaking their unions and sending their jobs overseas.   This phenomenon is explored by Thomas Frank in his book, What’s the Matter with Kansas:  How Conservatives Won the Heart of America.  Frank, himself a native of Kansas, sees several factors contributing to this anomaly.  He believes that 1991’s Summer of Mercy, sponsored by the pro-life Operation Rescue, first empowered the religious right who, until then had been a fringe group.  Fired up, the disenfranchised members of the right discovered that they could organize and garner public support.  Using the skills they honed during this campaign, they gradually increased their influence in the Republican Party, even though this party was pulling the rug out from under them economically.   Frank believes this was made possible because the religious right took economic issues off the table.  Coupled with this is a belief by many evangelicals that the free market and divinity are one, and that life is a vale of tears anyway so that it is humanity’s lot to suffer (payback for Eve’s apple picking).  Economic catastrophe builds character and brings one closer to God.    Another factor, according to Frank, was a decision by the Democratic Leadership Conference to write off the blue collar vote and to go after affluent moderate Republics who can write larger checks. This left the blue collar and working poor vote fair game for the well-organized religious right.   Frank admits Kansas is a unique case.  He realizes that there is something about the state’s barren landscape that encourages the growth and nurturing of wingnuts.  But he also points out that as Kansas goes so, often, goes the nation.  Kansas has a history of setting trends.  Pizza Hut had its birth in Kansas as did prohibition and the Populist movement of the late 19th Century.   It’s easy to leave Frank’s book depressed and worried that there is a chance the wingnuts will bring a Christian theocracy to America.  A good anecdote to the book is Eyal Press’ article in August issue of The Nation, ”Closing the ‘Religion Gap’”.   It is reassuring to read:            " A recent survey by Religion & Ethics Newsweekly found that evangelical Christians on the whole gave Falwell a marginally unfavorable rating. It also found that many evangelicals (in particular, those who are African-American or Hispanic) care more about jobs and the economy than issues like gay marriages and abortion."   The survey also points out that of the 40 percent of Americans who see themselves as born-again Christians about one-third are “free-style evangelicals” whose political views are eclectic, and 15-20 percent are minorities who tend to vote Democratic.   From this one could imply that Bush’s base consists of millionaires, millionaire wannabes, and white wingnuts.  There have been encouraging reports that Bush is concentrating more of shoring up his base then on courting swing voters.  The beauty of power is that once it believes itself invincible it proceeds to blow its foot away.     8:18:24 AM    comment []

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