The Empire Strikes Back

Graphic courtesy of the Feminist Majority Foundation blog.

Millions of poor chickens have to die en masse, all to prove that Christians hate gay marriage. I am one of the minority of folks who worries about the innocent chickens in this whole fiasco. (waves to fellow vegetarians)



As you are undoubtedly aware, the Chick Fil-A hoopla continues, as everyone in the world continues to brawl on Facebook, Twitter, Blogdonia and beyond. (The pro-gay kiss-in protest was held today, in various areas of the country.) The gay marriage debate has now reached every corner of the USA. People are being defriended right and left.

Meanwhile, the beleaguered, hard-working Christians who head up the nation's soup kitchens and homeless shelters, wonder why they can't get even one-eightieth of these Christians to assist them, when they put out their constant pleas for help.

Maybe its the food? The soup kitchen fare is no match for fried-fowl sandwiches, apparently.

Or maybe it's easier to grandstand, pose in a fast-food line for TV cameras, then eat and run. POOF, you are a devout Christian! No caring for the poor, no mopping floors, no boring bake-sales, no ladling out soup for dirty junkies who have been sleeping out in the used-car lot. No work necessary. No need to leave your comfy suburb and associate with filthy lowlifes, publicans and sinners. In fact, you do not even need to leave your air-conditioned vehicle if you decide to go to the drive-thru. Its much easier, quicker, AND you get to be on TV! All your friends will see you! You can take a photo of yourself and put it on Facebook so your parents, preacher and other buddies can see what a good Christian you are! Mike Huckabee will sing your praises on Fox News!

Serving the poor and such, as Jesus actually advised his followers to do? The Franciscans have been doing this since forever, and as we know, nobody puts them on Facebook or TV. They are boring, poorly-attired and do not understand good PR, as Dan Cathy obviously does.

Too bad we can't get these Christians to care about the poor and homeless as much as they care about hating gays. Society might actually change for the GOOD, and we certainly can't have THAT!

More on this topic tomorrow, on my radio show. I taped it today, ranted and raved, and even shouted once. (What, me worry?) It's entertaining and lots more fun than Mike Huckabee.

Tune in tomorrow!

And speaking of Mike Huckabee, what happened to his concerns about weight, wholesome foods and health? He goes from talk of healthy eating, to exhorting us all to eat fried garbage? Huh?

He used to talk about the importance of Americans eating good food, but I guess he can't now that he has his Fox News marching orders. I mean, he's under contract, you know.

Locally, here in Bob Jones University land, we actually had a PROTESTOR! More on the show tomorrow. In the meantime, eat HERE instead of nasty Chick Fil-A. (check out the show for the reasons why)

~*~

A few other links:

[] South Carolina Boy wrote about his tarot reading... I love it when people write cool stuff about me. :)

My best wishes are with him at this time, as always.

[] Private prisons spend $45 million on lobbying, rake in $5.1 billion for immigrant detention alone.

[] And finally, Harry Reid decides to go after Romney in a big way:

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid is unabashed as he makes a serious, unsubstantiated claim about Mitt Romney: that the Republican candidate for president did not pay any taxes for 10 years. That, the Nevada senator says, is why Mr. Romney will not release tax returns beyond those he has already made public, his 2010 return and an estimate for 2011.

Senator Reid, in fact, is so certain he’s doing the right thing that he repeated his charge on the floor of the Senate Thursday night, and put it out in a statement.

(giggle)

Let the games begin!

~*~

And did you all see THE DARK KNIGHT RISES yet? Did you notice the trashing of Occupy Wall Street?

I did find it very interesting that Bruce Wayne has now lost his money... do filmmakers think a rich hero is no longer sympathetic? As one of my friends also said, the tumultuous economy means we find this new plot-development totally believable, if alarming: Good Lord, even BRUCE WAYNE IS POOR NOW? Is nothing sacred?

The director, Christopher Nolan (whom I have admired ever since his wonderful movie-masterpiece MEMENTO) said in his Rolling Stone interview:

We put a lot of interesting questions in the air, but that's simply a backdrop for the story. What we're really trying to do is show the cracks of society, show the conflicts that somebody would try to wedge open. We're going to get wildly different interpretations of what the film is supporting and not supporting, but it's not doing any of those things. It's just telling a story. If you're saying, “Have you made a film that's supposed to be criticizing the Occupy Wall Street movement?” – well, obviously, that's not true.

For the record, I don't think its "obviously" not true at all... someone is trying to have his cake and eat it too.

Meanwhile, the new game Call of Duty is also taking direct aim at Occupy. And the two have something in common, it turns out. From SALON:

Reporting on the upcoming new edition of the game “Call of Duty” and the imminent release of the film “The Dark Knight Rises,” Gameranx.com reports:

The game’s main villain is Raul Menendez, described as the “idolized Messiah of the 99%” – a Julian Assange-like character who’s old, experienced, and hell bent on starting a global insurrection against the status quo…

The character, as with the rest of the story, is the creation of David S. Goyer. Goyer is the co-writer of “The Dark Knight Rises,” which also shares a similar story featuring Bane as Batman’s primary antagonist, who starts a class war aimed against the rich and privileged of Gotham City with the backing of the common man.

In 1988, a Konami executive said pop culture industries were looking to “take anything remotely in the news and make it a game.” Obviously, this move to put the headline-grabbing “99 percent” concept into video games and movies shows what that enduring strategy looks like in practice — and it doesn’t look very good.

It has also been pointed out to me that the new villain in the next James Bond movie, Skyfall, (named "Silva" and played by Javier Bardem) has whitish-blond, Julian Assange-ish hair. No kidding?

As Ryan Gilbey of the UK Guardian wrote:

One unwritten rule of the series is that 007's opponents tend to personify the perceived threats or preoccupations of the era which spawns them. We can discern from the plot titbits present in the Skyfall trailer that the security of British spies is compromised when a disc containing information about their identities is lost. So we have a potentially hazardous leak of top-secret data, presided over perhaps by this bright-haired man named Silva. As if Julian Assange hasn't got enough to worry about, he won't even be able to pop to the local multiplex in October without seeing a menacing supervillain modelled on him.

The Empire Strikes Back.

Retro politicians

Listening to the Retro Rock channel on Music Choice, I am startled to learn what is considered Retro these days. Marilyn Manson is "Retro"? Holy shit, who knew. (The kids, I guess, knew.) And there is now "Hip-Hop Classics"... wait, what? Didn't hip-hop start, like, last Tuesday or something? How can there be classics already?

Yeah, aging can be perpetually culturally dislocating and ... sometimes, just plain weird. It certainly provides for perspective and ample opportunities for cynicism and skepticism.

Like, take Newt Gingrich. Please. (My photo is from our recent demonstration against Fox News.) Why do we have to put up with him AGAIN? My father-in-law is going to flip out over the simple fact that he has to look at Newt again, after his beleaguered congressional district was finally RID of his dopey, self-important, narcissistic neocon ass.

Conservative politicians never die, they just get jobs on Fox News.

Speaking of which, Mike Huckabee announced on Saturday that he is NOT running for president, for which small mercies we can be forever grateful.

His blather, however, was something else, all about his HEART and such. (Link to conservative Arkansas blog containing his complete statement here.):

When people asked me what it would take for me to run, I would tell them the same thing—pray for me to have clarity in the decision. I don’t expect everyone to understand this, but I’m a believer and follower of Jesus Christ. That relationship is far more important to me than any political office. For me, the decision is ultimately not a political one, a financial one, or even a practical one —it’s a spiritual one.

The past few weeks, the external signs and signals and answers to many of the obstacles point strongly toward running. When I am with people encouraging me to run, it’s easy to feel the strength of their partnership and commitment to help me to the finish line. Only when I was alone, in quiet and reflective moments did I have not only clarity, but an inexplicable inner peace—a peace that exceeds human understanding. All the factors say GO, but my heart says NO. And that is the decision I have made and in it have finally found resolution. I don’t fully understand it myself—but I’m sure the pundits will.

And the pundits understand that it's really about Huckabee leaving his lucrative Fox TV show (which he would be forced to do if he ran for president) whilst he is trying to build his pricey, nice new home in Florida.

I kept switching back and forth from Huckabee to America's Next Top Model... after engaging in a little herbal refreshment, I started thinking Tyra Banks will probably run for president herself some day. She's far more entertaining than Mike Huckabee!

Rob Zombie is Retro? (shakes head in old-lady amazement)

Upcoming Republican Debate in Greenville

... appears to be a big bust so far, since nobody is officially running for president. (Punchline: What if the DeMint Faction gave a debate and nobody came?) They have until May 5th to stir up some interest and justify all of the Chamber of Commerce/Fox News hoopla. So far, they are stuck with the likes of right-wing fruitcake (and former Pennsylvania Senator) Rick Santorum and former Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer. Obviously, they were hoping for rock stars like Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, all of whom would provide some fun fireworks.

But... Santorum and Roemer? Not so much.

The Greenville News is worried:

A month shy of Greenville’s Republican presidential debate — now the first in the nation — there are still no formal GOP candidates for president, though some are edging closer.

It’s a far cry from this date four years ago, when the choices were already clear, and the relative slowness of the GOP field to congeal has prompted a four-month delay to the other spring presidential debate.

State GOP Chairwoman Karen Floyd told GreenvilleOnline.com there’ll be no such delay in Greenville and predicted at least five participants in the May 5 Fox News debate at the Peace Center for the Performing Arts.

Two potential candidates, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Louisiana Gov. Buddy Roemer, have publicly committed to the Greenville debate, while a spokesman for former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said he will not attend.

It’s unclear what the rest will do.

Larry Sabato, director of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, said it makes sense for candidates in the out-of-power party to save their money against an incumbent president who’s likely to raise $1 billion.

The pace sets up Greenville to start the national conversation in a Republican landscape where some in the party say voters are eager to build on 2010 victories but where the candidates are still coy about their intentions.

Greenville attorney David Wilkins, former speaker of the state House of Representatives and U.S. ambassador to Canada, said the cancellation of the California debate makes the one in Greenville more important.

“It’s the first one,” said Wilkins, a Republican who has been raising money for the Greenville event as one of its co-chairmen.

Santorum told GreenvilleOnline.com that the debate rules allow participation by potential candidates who have not yet formally announced campaigns.

U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour haven’t decided whether to run for president and will explore debate opportunities after they decide, while former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will participate in the Greenville debate “if he’s a candidate,” press aides said.

Gingrich told Foster’s Daily Democrat in New Hampshire this week that he’ll likely decide on a candidacy by May 1.

Attempts to reach officials with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty were unsuccessful.

Santorum was the first to confirm his debate appearance. He said, “I think South Carolina will be a great place to start the action.”

Aaron Walker, spokesman for Roemer, said the former Louisiana governor is also committed.

A debate scheduled for May 2 at the Reagan library in California was delayed until September because organizers said they were concerned it wouldn’t attract all the eventual candidates.

The Greenville debate, however, may serve a different purpose, Sabato said, helping cement the state’s cherished position as the first in the South to judge Republican presidential hopefuls.

“You’ve got to work as hard as Iowa and New Hampshire to protect your status in the system,” Sabato said. “It’s a very favored status.”

As I wrote here, I had originally planned on a protest, but now I don't think one is necessary. Let's hope it turns into a bust and messes up all of their elephant-sized GOP dreams for now. (I hope Senator DeMint takes it personally that the GOP is dissing the debate in his hometown, hee hee hee!) Of course, I am still encouraging people to show up with signs and misbehave, but I don't think an organized effort will draw many people, unless Bachmann or someone of that caliber shows up.

And will they? Stay tuned, sports fans.

An anonymous local politico added his two cents, when I told him I wanted to title this post, "Greenville fucked by DeMint wing of Republican party"; he said the subtitle should be "Greenville moans with pleasure."

Yeah. Wish I'd thought of that.

Huckabee claims he could have won SC primary

Mike Huckabee, currently out pimping his "book" (read: presidential campaign preview) titled A Simple Government, told Greenville Online that he would have won the South Carolina Republican Primary in 2008, if not for a "deal" between candidates Fred Thompson and John McCain.

In the primary, McCain was the clear winner, with Huckabee placing second and Thompson third.

According to Greenville Online (apologies if link doesn't work, they always nab me by the end of the day!):

Huckabee, who may run for the White House again, said Thompson had planned to drop out of the presidential race following the New Hampshire primary, but McCain persuaded him to stay in — a move that split the conservative vote in South Carolina and helped deliver the election to McCain.

...

Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, said Thompson spent most of his South Carolina campaign in Greenville and Spartanburg, a stronghold for Huckabee.

Thompson “didn’t have a significant vote, but he had just enough, and our polling showed that it was coming off of me,” Huckabee said. “And it kept me just a couple of points under McCain, and you know the rest is history. But that’s life.”

Huckabee said he doesn’t have any hard feelings “for the deal they made. I know they did it because I’ve had close aides to both of them who told me.”

Campaigns are about winning, so “it’s never been something that I was upset about because I would have done the same thing if I could have,” Huckabee said.

Dean Rice, Thompson’s national campaign manager in 2008, couldn’t be reached, nor could Trey Walker, McCain’s campaign manager in South Carolina that year who now works for Gov. Nikki Haley.

Interesting, indeed! If Huckabee had won South Carolina, he would have taken the lead.

McCain won the support of more than 33 percent of South Carolina Republicans in 2008 on his way to secure the party’s nomination.

Huckabee won every county along the Interstate 85 corridor except Oconee, but it wasn’t enough to overcome McCain’s advantage in the rest of the state. Huckabee claimed just under 30 percent of the vote statewide.

Thompson garnered 15.6 percent to take third and push former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney into fourth.

Presidential aspirants tend to pay special attention to South Carolina because of its first-in-the-South primary.

Other Republicans eyeing a White House run who have visited the Upstate in recent months include Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, another potential Republican candidate, spoke in Spartanburg on Saturday.

This year, the Fox News Channel has agreed to televise two GOP presidential debates from South Carolina, the first set for the Peace Center in downtown Greenville on May 5.

And YES, friends and neighbors, I plan to be outside the Peace Center on Cinco De Mayo to welcome them in my own special way. (grins)

I have been chatting with the energetic youth at Suite 8 in Greenville, and some of them will be there also. We may actually have a REAL DEMONSTRATION AGAINST THE GOP DEBATE IN GREENVILLE! ((faints)) That's a bit optimistic here in DeMint country, but I just wanted you to know: talks are underway. We may require a permit. Also, I am quite familiar with the terrain of the Peace Center, and it will be ridiculously easy for them to cordon us off into various alleyways. But I am ON THE CASE, and wanted DEAD AIR denizens to know that!

In addition, DEAD AIR will be blogging the next SC primary and the next election to a bloody fare thee well. STAY TUNED, SPORTS FANS!

SC Lt Gov Andre Bauer compares poor to stray dogs

Photo of Lt Gov Andre Bauer from 67 Degrees.

~*~


Those of you who wondered why we weren't so all-fired anxious to get rid of our wayward governor, Mark Sanford, down here in South Carolina... well, this should solve the enduring political puzzle at long last. Next in line for the job would be Lt. Governor Andre Bauer, whom I have written about quite a bit here at DEAD AIR.

And Bauer has just distinguished himself in his inimitable fashion, at a town hall meeting in Fountain Inn, comparing poor people to stray dogs.

I could never make this stuff up:

Bauer equates 'stray animals' to people in speech on aid to needy
Lieutenant governor says those receiving help 'owe something back'
By Nathaniel Cary • Staff Writer • January 23, 2010

Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer drew a comparison to “feeding stray animals” during a speech about people on government assistance, “babies having babies,” and parents whose children are on free and reduced-price lunch.

Bauer, who's running for the Republican nomination for governor, made his remarks during a town hall meeting in Fountain Inn that included state lawmakers and about 115 residents.

“My grandmother was not a highly educated woman but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed. You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better,” Bauer said.

In South Carolina, 58 percent of students participate in the free and reduced-price lunch program, 45.5 percent in Greenville County.

Bauer's remarks came during a speech in which he said government should take away assistance if those receiving help didn't pass drug tests or attend parent-teacher conferences or PTA meetings if their children were receiving free and reduced-price lunches.

Bauer later told The Greenville News on Friday that he wasn't saying people on government assistance “were animals or anything else.”

In his speech to the group, Bauer said people have to become more engaged with government.

“You see, for the first time in the history of this country, we've got more people voting for a living than we do working for a living,” he said.

What the hell is he talking about, Daisy interrupts to ask indignantly. Jesus H. Christ.

And of course, it just gets worse.

Later in his speech, he said, “I can show you a bar graph where free and reduced lunch has the worst test scores in the state of South Carolina,” adding, “You show me the school that has the highest free and reduced lunch and I'll show you the worst test scores, folks. It's there, period. So how do you fix it? Well you say, ‘Look, if you receive goods or services from the government then you owe something back.'”

Bauer said during the speech that there are no “repercussions” from accepting government assistance.

“We don't make you take a drug test. We ought to. We don't even make you show up to your child's parent-teacher conference meeting or to the PTA meeting,” Bauer said.

“You go to a school where there's an active participation of parents and guess what? They have the highest test scores. So what do you do? You say, ‘Look folks, if you receive goods or services from the government and you don't attend a parent-teacher conference, bam, you lose your benefits.' We're going to have to do things like that. We can't afford to keep just giving money away.”

And he said it was time to confront “babies having babies, somebody's got to talk about. Politicians don't want to talk about it anymore because it's politically incorrect.”

Later, Bauer told The Greenville News that “people in society have certain responsibilities, just like if you don't pay your taxes, there are certain repercussions.”

He said government hasn't made requirements to make those receiving aid be more responsible.

“They can continue to have more and more kids and the reward is there's more and more money in it for them.”

Instead, he said the government should place incentives in its welfare programs such as providing child care so parents can work or receive education so they can break the welfare cycle.

Government continues to reward bad behavior by giving money to people who “don't have to do a thing,” he said.

Does this include corporate welfare, such as subsidizing Boeing's expensive move to South Carolina--to the tune of a 60% tax break? (And how many millions does that eventually work out to? Never was too good at math!) I agree, that kind of welfare sucks! Not to mention the bloodsuckers who keep running for office and pandering to the lowest element in our society. What are THEY giving back? Are these party hacks good for South Carolina, or do they just contribute to the continuing stereotype of us as a bunch of stupid, xenophobic rednecks?

Is Bauer proposing we take away free lunches from the kids with bad parents--the ones who test positive for drugs and won't attend school conferences, et. al.? Punish the kids for the parents' behavior, isn't that what he is advocating?

Interestingly (and hypocritically), Andre Bauer is a major pro-lifer, and takes the OPPOSITE line when the subject is abortion: Why punish the baby for the behavior of the parents? Like Mike Huckabee, whom he supported for president, Bauer does not believe in any legal exceptions for abortion in the cases of rape or incest; and this is the moral defense he and Huckabee repeatedly offer. So, apparently, it's okay to punish kids for what their parents do, as long as they are already born! Just not in the womb! The womb is sacrosanct, but once they are born? Fuck them and their free lunches!

(((blood boils)))

Anyway, now you know why Sanford is still the governor. Everyone here in SC already knows.

Lt Gov Andre Bauer accused of being closeted gay

Photo of our esteemed Lieutenant Governor is from 67 Degrees.


Wow, I thought it would be, you know, SOME OTHER SOUTH CAROLINA POLITICIAN ((whistles dixie, looks heavenward))) accused first.

Andre Bauer?

Well, damn.

After I got some emails about this story and I learn that HuffPo is going with it, I have decided to report what THEY are saying. I see Bauer every day, or close to it, since he moved to Thornblade... and I don't want him charging at me like some mad raging bull!

Practices whiny refrain: "I don't make the news, I just cover it!"

So, I am officially agnostic on the rumors. I will note that Andre Bauer has never been married, which is unusual for a South Carolina politician ((except for... commences whistling dixie again))... And consequently, there has been near-constant speculation that he is a "player" (womanizer) as well as gay. I have personally observed him with his girlfriend, nuzzling her, being all cozy, kissy and friendly. Which I suppose could be a fake-out, or not.

Anyway, here is what they are reporting. From BlogActive:

...I am now able to confirm a rumor that has circulated in South Carolina for years. South Carolina Lt. Governor Andre Bauer is a closeted anti-gay politician who stands to replace Mark Sanford should Sanford resign or be impeached (a real possibility as Sanford is caught in his own sex scandal.)

So, what is the deal with Bauer? I have confirmed and spoken to four individuals who I have no doubt are telling me the truth. These men have been hit on by Bauer, with one of them telling me it happened at least five times since Bauer's election in 2003. To a varying degree I have met with and believe the sources. [...]

[Another] call came in and I met with the source while he was visiting DC recently. "He's gay," the source told me.

"How do you know?" I asked.

"Because I've had sex with him on two separate occasions."

That too, was not enough for me to report on without confirmation from others. I was led on a path to chatting with acquaintances of the source and two former employees of Bauer who served on his staff between 2004 and 2007. They reported to me that on a total of three occasions Bauer spent hours alone with men in hotel rooms. Each of them explained that the visits were with younger men who were not on the staff of the Lt. Governor nor had any official reason to be with him. The two men each confirmed that they had not known each other and each described similar circumstances under which these interactions occurred. One of them confirmed that he was told by the Lt. Governor's visitor he had a sexual encounter with Bauer.

The combination of the reports and the first hand experiences were what I need to maintain my 100% record of being right in my reporting on this site.

This case is particularly interesting because the governor Bauer serves has a little sex issue himself. It was Mark Sanford (a former resident of the now famous C-Street House) who decided it was appropriate to use the state's resources to fly to South America to rendezvous with his "soul mate." As you can imagine, this did not go over too well with Sanford's wife, who moved out of the governor's mansion. (I give her credit, she was not one of the fools who stood by on TV as her husband confessed his sins (see: Craig, Suzanne and McGreevy, Dina).

His record? The bachelor is a right wing Christian conservative. He's done everything from defend the state issuing "I believe" license plates (complete with a cross on them) to defending the right of schools to use corporal punishment. In the presidential election he supported Mike Huckabee.

There have been many rumors over the years about the Lt. Governor [...]

Let there now be no doubt.

Well, I do have doubts.

However, in the interests of free speech, tarring and feathering the far right, and other cherished beliefs, let the games begin.

And props to Robert at Blue Heron Blast, for being on the case!

Odds and Sods - Free Britney edition

March 19th will be the Blogswarm Against the War. Sign up and do your part, sister and brother bloggers! If you aren't sure what to write about, there are suggestions at the March 19-Blogswarm webpage. If there are anti-war activities in your town taking place on or around the 5th (!!!!) anniversary of the Iraq war, covering these events is a good place to start.

BRING THEM HOME NOW!!!!!!

~*~

Lisa at Questioning Transphobia titles her post about Sanesha Stewart, simply, Another Murder--which just breaks my heart. Unfortunately, violent deaths of transgendered persons are commonplace enough to warrant such a headline.

The tragedy of Sanesha's murder was compounded by the insensitivity of the New York press, writing salaciously of the fact that she (gasp!) dressed like a woman, used a woman's name (her legal name, in fact), and was apparently a prostitute. Drakyn has a round-up of various accounts throughout the blogosphere, and asks for a moment of silence in remembering Sanesha.

~*~

Left: from Rolling Stone.


Rolling Stone's cover story about Britney Spears is aptly titled The Tragedy of Britney Spears. It opens with a trip to the mall, where Britney has one of her regular meltdowns when an American Express card doesn't immediately go through:

"Fuck these bitches," screams Britney, each word ringing out between sobs. "These idiots can't do anything right!"

Ghalib dashes over to console her, but she's already spitting, growling, throwing a big bottle of soda on the floor so that it begins to spill underneath the curtain, and then she's got a box of tissues and is throwing them on top of the wet floor along with piles of discarded merchandise. A new card finally goes through, but by then Britney is out the door, leaving her shirt on the ground and replacing it with the red top. "Fuck you, fuck people, fuck, fuck, fuck," she keeps screaming, her face splotchy and red as she crosses the interminable mall floor, the crowd behind her growing larger and larger. "Leave us alone!" yells Ghalib.

The siblings run after Britney to get a video to put up on YouTube, and some of the shopgirls run after her to hand off the merchandise she left behind, and there's an entire bridal party wearing yellow T-shirts who have pulled out camera phones too. A crush of managers in black shirts and gold name tags try to keep the peace, but the crowd running after Britney gets larger, and now the shopgirls have ­started to catch up to her, one of them slipping spectacularly in her platform shoes, grazing her elbow. She pulls herself up, mustering the strength to tap Britney's shoulder. "Um, I'm from the South too," she mumbles, "and I was wondering if I could get a picture with you for my little sister."

Britney turns to Ghalib and grabs his arm. "I don't want her talking to me!" she screams. She whirls around and stares the girl deep in the eyes, her lips almost vibrating with anger. "I don't know who you think I am, bitch," she snarls, "but I'm not that person."

Wow. Obviously not.

Renegade Evolution and other sex workers have often pointed out that there are LOT of entertainers far more oppressed than sex workers, and I think we have a pretty good example right in front of us, don't we? Britney has been chewed up and spit out like a cheap piece of candy.

Amazing story, going back to cute Britney the Mouseketeer. Check it out.

~*~

In other music news, Tom Scholz of the band BOSTON has just informed the Huckabee campaign to STOP using their song, More Than A Feeling:

CONCORD, N.H. - The chief songwriter and founder of the band Boston has more than a feeling that he’s being ripped off by Mike Huckabee.

In a letter to the Republican presidential hopeful, Tom Scholz complains that Huckabee is using his 1970s smash hit song “More Than a Feeling” without his permission. A former member of the band, Barry Goudreau, has appeared with Huckabee at campaign events, and they have played the song with Huckabee’s band, Capitol Offense.

Scholz, who said Goudreau left the band more than 25 years ago after a three-year stint, objects to the implication that the band and one of its members has endorsed Huckabee’s candidacy.

“Boston has never endorsed a political candidate, and with all due respect, would not start by endorsing a candidate who is the polar opposite of most everything Boston stands for,” wrote Scholz, adding that he is supporting Democratic Sen. Barack Obama. “By using my song, and my band’s name Boston, you have taken something of mine and used it to promote ideas to which I am opposed. In other words, I think I’ve been ripped off, dude!”

Fred Bramante, who was chairman of Huckabee’s New Hampshire campaign, called the allegations ridiculous. He said he attended dozens of Huckabee rallies in New Hampshire and other states and never heard Huckabee play “More Than a Feeling,” other than when Goudreau campaigned with him in Iowa in October.

“Governor Huckabee plays ‘Sweet Home Alabama.’ Does that mean Lynyrd Skynyrd is endorsing him? He plays ‘Louie Louie.’ Does that mean The Kingsmen are endorsing him? To me, it’s ridiculous,” he said. “Never once has he said, ‘The band Boston endorses me.’

Scholz, in a telephone interview Friday, said he understands “More Than a Feeling” has been a centerpiece at some rallies, and said Goudreau is identified with the band in an endorsement video.

“Whenever a campaign publicly exploits a well-known song, there is some inference of support” by the band or artist, he added.

He recommends that Huckabee “stick to music recorded by far-right Republicans.”

Tensions between Scholz and some of the early band members date from the early 1980s, when CBS Inc. sued the band over delays in recording new albums. The company’s Epic Records label recorded the band’s first two releases: “Boston,” in 1976, and “Don’t Look Back,” in 1978.

Scholz — who wrote, engineered, and laid down nearly all the instrumental tracks on the first album — countersued for the rights to the band’s name and music. Three members of the original band, including Goudreau, testified for the record company, which lost.

In his letter, Scholz referred to Huckabee as the “straight talk candidate,” but that label more often is applied to Sen. John McCain, who has had his own troubles when it comes to his musical playlist. Last week, McCain’s campaign agreed to stop playing John Mellencamp’s songs “Our Country” and “Pink Houses” at his rallies after the liberal rocker complained.

Mellencamp had supported Democrat John Edwards, who recently dropped out of the race.

Other candidates have had better luck selecting songs. Celine Dion said she was “thrilled” that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton used her song, “You and I” as her official campaign anthem. Obama frequently blares U2’s “City of Blinding Lights” at his events.

~*~

I have written here about the questionable circumstances surrounding the death of Richard Javis 'Jabo' Johnson while in police custody in Fountain Inn, SC--as well as the local demonstration that I attended after his death was ruled a suicide, back in September. I did two follow-ups, one concerning the Greenville Journal story, and another when no charges were filed, following the Department of Justice investigation.

Well, the DoJ was back in Greenville County this week, facilitating a meeting between the Fountain Inn police force and members of the community:

Feds bring Fountain Inn citizens, police force together

Some attending closed meeting say they 'feel good' about outcome

Monday, February 18, 2008
By Eric Connor
STAFF WRITER, Greenville News

A U.S. Department of Justice representative who specializes in mediating racial conflicts met behind closed doors tonight with Fountain Inn officials and members of the community to address complaints of discord between the community and the city’s police force.

Fountain Inn Mayor Gary Long said "a lot" of members of the community, as well as he and the city’s police chief, attended the mediation session, which came after the death of an inmate in the city’s jail last summer.

Long said he couldn’t comment on what occurred during the meeting, which was held at an undisclosed location. A majority of City Council members weren’t present, he said.

The Rev. Curtis Johnson, a spokesman for the community, said that he couldn’t talk about what was discussed during the meeting. "We feel good that the process is going forward," Johnson said. "We have no reason to believe we won’t reach a positive conclusion."

The Justice Department offers mediation through its Community Relations Service, which acts as a third-party peacemaker when communities encounter racial and ethnic conflict. The department’s regional mediator, Walter Atkinson, presided over the meeting.

Long had said earlier that the meeting wouldn’t focus on the July death of Richard Javis Johnson, who was found hanged to death with a T-shirt in his jail cell after an arrest on a drug charge -- but rather on general complaints by the community regarding relations with law enforcement.

Allegations of police mistreatment came to the fore after Johnson’s death. The 13th Circuit Solicitor’s Office has ruled the 25-year-old’s death a suicide.

A month after the death, the Rev. Jesse Jackson took a tour of the Fountain Inn jail with a group of protesters and accused the Police Department of "a dereliction of duty" and said that Johnson had been "beaten to death."

The city’s police chief, Keith Morton, has said his department is innocent of any wrongdoing.

City Councilwoman Wanza Bates told The Greenville News in November that she has fielded widespread complaints of police abuse, including allegations of harassment, use of excessive force and illegal searches, concerns that she said citizens have been afraid to raise publicly.

Johnson’s death, Bates said, compelled more in the community to come forward with their concerns.

"I’m hearing it from black and white, young and old," Bates told The News in November. "People don’t even want to drive down Main Street."

In November, Long told The News, "We don’t think that there’s anything that they’ve done improperly, but if we have, we’ll deal with it. Since there was so much anxiety and so much accusations and the perception that we were doing something wrong, we took it out of our hands and will let someone else judge us."

~*~

I'm not sure if the current John McCain scandal has any news-cycle longevity or not, but we shall see. In the meantime, here is a link about the New York Times story (which I could access in full last night, but not this morning! growf!) about Vicki Iseman, the lobbyist he was ultra-cozy with. Fascinating!

I hope she's as proud of her country as Cindy McCain is! ;)

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Listening to: Bob Marley & the Wailers - Satisfy My Soul
via FoxyTunes

On Religious Bigotry

Left: Mr Natural by R. Crumb



It's difficult to talk about religious bigotry without discussing religion itself. What exactly is religious bigotry? I've been mulling over this question during these last weeks of presidential primaries. I was discussing the Bob Jones endorsement of Mitt Romney with a moderate Republican of my acquaintance. We both chuckled about how strange and unexpected it was. And then, she brought me up short, announcing: "I could never vote for anyone who wears ritual underwear!" and rolled her eyes in derision. I was taken aback. I dislike Mitt Romney, but not for that.

I knew this was The Real McCoy, the authentic article, religious bigotry, directed at Romney for being a Mormon. But what do we call derision directed at religious folk by those who loudly claim all religion is a dangerous delusion? Atheists are often just as nasty toward believers, but we don't usually call that religious bigotry. Is it only religious bigotry if the perpetrator is from another religion? Can religious bigotry occur between two people of the same faith? (Is the ferreting out of heretics, itself, a form of bigotry towards those who act on religious impulses in an unpopular or minority fashion?)

What about 'justified anger' at particularly oppressive or fundamentalist religions? Can that be separated from anger at individuals perceived as representatives of those religions?

Charles Krauthammer once wrote an interesting piece for TIME magazine about being asked his "religious preference" on hospital paperwork:

Of course, the only reason hospital folk bother to ask about religion at all is prudence, not theological curiosity. In case they accidentally kill you or you otherwise expire on their watch, they want to be sure they send up the right clergy to usher you to the next level, as it were. We're not talking belief here. We're talking liability protection.

According to Chesterton, tolerance is the virtue of people who do not believe in anything. Chesterton meant that as a critique of tolerance. But it captures nicely the upside of unbelief: where religion is trivialized, one is unlikely to find persecution. When it is believed that on your religion hangs the fate of your immortal soul, the Inquisition follows easily; when it is believed that religion is a breezy consumer preference, religious tolerance flourishes easily. After all, we don't persecute people for their taste in cars. Why for their taste in gods?

Oddly, though, in our thoroughly secularized culture, there is one form of religious intolerance that does survive. And that is the disdain bordering on contempt of the culture makers for the deeply religious, i.e., those for whom religion is not a preference but a conviction.

Is that really true? I'd like to say it isn't, but it often feels that way. And I believe this phenomenon has everything to do with Mike Huckabee's recent political ascent, and Mitt Romney's failure to shore up the conservative base of the Republican party. The irony is that fundamentalists who feel persecuted as deeply religious, have just harshly penalized another candidate on account of his religion.

What is your personal definition of religious bigotry?

Odds and Sods - Super Tuesday eve edition

Check out RESIST IN MARCH, for national anti-war activities, as well as Iraq Moratorium.

~*~



Local folks, don't forget our Greenville Antiwar Society action, scheduled for March 16th:





Sunday, March 16 in Bergamo Square
Downtown Greenville at Coffee & Main St.

- candle lighting starts at 8:00 PM
- 3900+ candles to be lit - for each American soldier who has died
- hundreds of thousands of beads for the Iraqi dead.

Be there or be square.

~*~

Reading around the intertubes

Ren does some digging, and is shocked--shocked! ...to discover Melissa Farley's sex worker research ain't what it's cracked up to be.

The New York Times featured an in-depth follow-up on Saturday about the pit bulls rescued from Michael Vick's dogfighting enterprise. If you love animals, beware, tough reading. But it is fascinating how animals react to abuse and trauma much the way humans do.

Anti-Barbie continues to offer us her short, but wonderfully-twisted trips of horror.

On Saturday, Oregon finally cleared the way for gay civil unions after a long legal battle. More from Little Light and Gay News Blog.

Disabled blogger BrainHell has died. I had only read his blog a few times, but always remembered how brilliant he was. Two of his regular readers, Kay and Bint, tell us more. We send him all of our love, peace, goodvibes and novenas for the dead. Please remember us when it is our turn to cross, BH.

~*~

Super Tuesday reading

Beyond Symbolism: the Obama dilemma - Great analysis from Peace Arena.

Heart, aka Cheryl Lindsey Seelhoff, the radical feminist who is running for president against Hillary Clinton, nonetheless approvingly reprints on her blog Robin Morgan's fascinating tirade against anyone NOT voting for Hillary. (Yes, I know, that doesn't make a lot of sense, but welcome to Heartworld.)

My Court TV jones has taken a back seat to Super Tuesday prognosticating. I also enjoy assorted campaign nonsense, such as watching video clips on MSNBC of Stevie Wonder sing Barack Obama's name before large crowds. Other fun trivia: Maria Shriver has endorsed Obama, while her husband, the Governator, is backing Senator John McCain. (And I wonder what they talk about?)

Left: Mr Natural by R. Crumb

It's been fun hearing all of the inside-stories of the campaign, but by far, my recent favorite has been the one about Mitt Romney taking the skin off of his fried chicken, Little-Lord-Fauntleroy-style. Huckabee was all over it:

PENSACOLA, Florida (CNN) – Mitt Romney's failure to eat fried chicken with the skin on is nothing short of blasphemy here in the South, according to GOP rival Mike Huckabee.

Romney, of Massachusetts, dug into a piece fried chicken at KFC while campaigning in Lutz, Florida on Saturday, but not before peeling off what most would consider the best part — the crispy skin.

Admittedly, KFC's chicken doesn't exactly stack up against the delectable kind that comes out of deep fryers in kitchens around the South, and Romney said he was looking for the healthiest option available to him for lunch.

Huckabee, looking ahead to a flotilla of southern states up for grabs on Super Tuesday, was told about the move by a reporter here in the Florida panhandle.

"I can tell you this," he said, "any Southerner knows if you don’t eat the skin don’t bother calling it fried chicken."

"So that's good. I'm glad that he did that, because that means I'm going to win Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma … all these great Southern states that understand the best part of fried chicken is the skin, if you're going to eat it that way."

I don't think it's a health issue (they were in a KFC, after all)--I think it's a class issue, and the way Mitt doesn't realize how he comes off to other (regular, middle class) people when he does something that might be perceived as snooty. George Bush the First had these same sorts of gentility-giveaway problems, famously asking for "a splash more coffee" whilst campaigning and once showing genuine surprise at a common UPC scanner at a grocery store. After that, his PR droogs (Mary Matalin, in particular) made sure he emphasized his common tastes, such as pork rinds. Look for Mitt's people to start Romney chowing down on some common foods, ASAP. (If any of them KNOW of any common foods, that is.)

~*~

Don't forget the DEADHEADS FOR OBAMA concert, streaming live tonight from San Francisco at 7:30 PM PST!

Do we keep on coming or stand and wait
with the sun so dark and the hour so late?

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Listening to: Grateful Dead - I Know You Rider
via FoxyTunes

Republican primary eve roundup

Left: Huckabee rocks out at Clemson University. Standing next to him (blue shirt) is former South Carolina governor David Beasley.

Strange bedfellows doesn't even begin to describe it. Lt. Governor Andre Bauer, whose exploits have been written about before on this blog, has endorsed Arkansas Governor and nice-guy Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee for president. One might compare this to Keith Richards endorsing Jerry Falwell, something like that. The Greenville News is on hand with the suitably cryptic references:

Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer on Thursday endorsed former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee for the GOP presidential nomination.

Bauer, who will campaign with Huckabee today, said he made a late selection of Huckabee after comparing the contenders and determining he has "the character, integrity, and proven leadership to ensure our greatest days are yet to come."

Reflecting on his own political close shaves, Bauer said he admires Huckabee's history of winning against long odds.

"Nobody knows better than I do that it's the people, not the polls, which determines the winner on election day," Bauer said.

Long odds, huh? Is that what they are calling it now?

I think they refer to Bauer's well-publicized freakout in 2003, wherein he ran amok in downtown Columbia, running red lights with abandon and clocking 60 miles-an-hour in a 35 miles-per-hour zone. After stopping Bauer, a police officer found it necessary to hold the Lt. Governor of South Carolina at gunpoint! Bauer has had numerous other wacked-out driving incidents, fueling speculations by irresponsible bloggers such as your humble narrator.

And yes, they re-elected his sorry ass. Those are the "long odds" he is winking at. Does Huckabee have a clue?

Probably not, he is pretending to be a Clemson fan whilst partying with Chuck Norris and Ric Flair. Bauer is small potatoes!

Huckabee brings road show to Clemson
Friday, January 18, 2008
By Anna Simon, CLEMSON BUREAU

CLEMSON -- Tiger cheers and live music rocked the Jervey Athletic Center gym at Clemson University, while a crowd of about 2,200 waited more than an hour Thursday for GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.

It was the biggest turnout of the campaign so far, Huckabee headliner Chuck Norris told the crowd that overflowed the bleachers and filled much of the gym floor.

It was akin to a giant pep rally and was covered by scores of local and national reporters.

Ric Flair, a popular martial artist and World Wrestling Entertainment figure, pumped up support for the GOP presidential candidate as the former Arkansas governor came onstage and joined the band, Mae West, on the bass guitar.

Introduced by former South Carolina Gov. David Beasley, Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer and state GOP Chairman Mike Campbell, Huckabee joshed about Beasley's past as a student on the Clemson campus before launching into more serious business.

"The decisions I'm going to make as the next president will have some effect on people my age, but not nearly as much effect as they will on people your age," said Huckabee, who is 52.

Good to know!

He is hitting the fundie circuit hard. Wednesday, Huckabee gave a rousing speech at local Southern Baptist college, North Greenville University.

Meanwhile, Ron Paul notably DID NOT get the star treatment over at Bob Jones University, as the antiwar, free-the-weed candidate. They are NOT readily forgiving that shit over there! My spies tell me a core group of libertarian Calvinists (and God Bless em) showed up, but mostly, not a real hospitable place for Dr Paul:

Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul paid a visit to Bob Jones University late Thursday afternoon, speaking to a group packed into a small classroom.

Outside, more than a hundred people tiptoed through the snow and stuck their heads through windows to listen to and take photos of the Texas congressman and physician as he made a stump speech and took questions from those who managed to find a way inside.

Apparently, most people didn't even realize he was there. But they couldn't keep his appearance a complete secret in the cell phone age. Our trusty Greenville News reports from the campus of BJU:

Paul, who opposed authorization to invade Iraq, told the audience that calls not to withdraw from Iraq are the same made in 1968 during Vietnam, after which 30,000 more American troops were killed.

Paul said the people who express fear for America's safety in the event of a withdrawal "are the same people who said it would be a cakewalk" to invade the country.

Paul said he opposed plans to build American bases in Iraq.

He also said America's war on drugs has cost the country countless amounts of money in pursuit of a failed cause. And he said that despite marijuana being illegal, it is just as accessible as alcohol.

Can you think of another politician who would actually go into the heart of BJU and say this stuff?


Left: Greenville News photo of John McCain with Bobby Harrell (center), the speaker of the South Carolina House, and Senator Lindsey Graham (right), campaigning yesterday in downtown Greenville.



Senator John McCain, whom I project as the winner, has been all over the state in the past few days. In fact, like The Flash, he almost appears to be in two places at once. As they used to say about Reagan, he is a TIRELESS CAMPAIGNER, and any concerns about his age seem pretty silly, just watching him hustle all over the place like that.

The news about McCain has been the nasty smears against him by various shadowy forces, one calling themselves Vietnam Veterans Against McCain. During his last run for the presidency, I personally received two such anti-McCain robocalls. (Now that I have the marvel of BellSouth's Privacy Detector, I don't get bizarre pre-campaign calls, but I do still get polled.) The New York Times reports:

Vietnam Veterans Against McCain [have] sent out a crude flier accusing the candidate of selling out fellow P.O.W.’s to save himself.

By Tuesday evening, a group called Common Sense Issues, which supports Mike Huckabee, had begun making what it said were a million automated calls to households in South Carolina telling voters, according to one of the calls, that Mr. McCain “has voted to use unborn babies in medical research.” (The campaign of Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, said it had no connection to the group and had asked it to stop the calls.)

Mr. McCain quickly fired back, but he has seen this movie before. In the 2000 South Carolina primary, one of the most notorious smear campaigns in recent American politics peddled distortions and lies about him, among them that Mr. McCain’s current wife, Cindy, was a drug addict and that the couple’s daughter Bridget, adopted from Mother Teresa’s orphanage in Bangladesh, was a black child Mr. McCain had fathered out of wedlock.

Whoa, hold the phone. Am I reading THE NEW YORK TIMES? Don't they have fact-checkers? The part about Cindy McCain is true. This is common knowledge in recovery communities.

Does the NYT know how to Google? It's all right there, in the Arizona Republic:

In August 1994, a group of Valley journalists received an unusual phone call from Jay Smith, McCain's political strategist.

They were offered an exclusive story in exchange for agreeing to certain terms. They would attend individual interview sessions Aug. 19 and sit on the story until Aug. 22. The five journalists - three print reporters, a television reporter and a radio reporter - agreed.

One by one, they went to the McCain home, where they heard an incredible story.

Cindy McCain, 40, told them that she had been a drug addict for three years. From 1989 to 1992, as the Keating Five made headlines, she was addicted to Percocet and Vicodin. Worse, she had stolen pills from the American Voluntary Medical Team, a relief organization that she founded to aid Third World countries.

"More than anything, I wanted to be able to face my children, for them to know I wasn't lying to them," she said at the time. "They're too young to fully understand right now, but someday they will."

Cindy blamed two back surgeries and the Keating Five scandal - a blend of physical and emotional pain - for hooking her on drugs.

Things started to unravel when a Drug Enforcement Administration audit found irregularities in the charity's records, prompting an investigation, Cindy told the reporters.

In 1992, as the Keating affair surfaced again during McCain's run for a second Senate term, Cindy's parents confronted her about her drug use.

What had been clear to Cindy's parents was lost on McCain, who said he had not noticed his wife's addiction.

"I was stunned," McCain said at the time. "Naturally, I felt enormous sadness for Cindy and a certain sense of guilt that I hadn't detected it. I feel very sorry for what she went through, but I'm very proud she was able to come out of it. For her, it was like the Keating affair had been for me, a searing experience, and we both came out stronger. I think it has strengthened our marriage and our overall relationship."

The late Phoenix Gazette political columnist John Kolbe helped break the story.

His Aug. 25, 1994, column was headlined and led with a powerful quote:

"I'm Cindy, and I'm an addict."

So, it's no fiction. Why are they saying it is? In any event, the Times assures us that this time, the McCain campaign is ready for the dirty tricks:

On Tuesday, within hours of the first reports of the veterans’ flier, Mr. McCain’s campaign held a conference call with reporters to denounce the mailing, which showed a cartoon of Mr. McCain in a prison cell. Writing on the wall behind him said “Elect Me, Elect Me, P.O.W. for President” and “An Enormous Crime, The P.O.W.’s I Helped Leave Behind.”

Orson Swindle, a former prisoner of war with Mr. McCain in Vietnam, also issued a statement on Tuesday calling the flier a “vicious” fraud. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” the statement said. “I know because I was there. The truth is, the North Vietnamese offered John McCain early release, and he refused.”

My opinion is that these dirty tricks have strengthened McCain's campaign and made him look like the good guy under attack by lowlifes, while also giving him a chance to remind everyone about his war record.

Making a cynic like me suspicious, all over again. Hm. Too many viewings of The Parallax View and both versions of The Manchurian Candidate I guess.

Stay tuned, sports fans.

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Listening to: The Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm
via FoxyTunes

Huckabee was here

Left: Greenville News photos of Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee at Furman University.

Huckabee was here. He went to Spartanburg first, and then on to local upscale Baptist college, Furman University. But first a tour of the Carolina Pregnancy Center, which defines itself as "a small, nonprofit Christian-based facility in Spartanburg that offers programs for women with crisis pregnancies"--which translates as those infamous "sidewalk counselors" who attempt to talk women out of abortion at the last minute.

The fact that he made a point of touring this facility, speaks volumes. He used this backdrop to talk about his pro-life record, which includes passage of an amendment to the Arkansas state constitution officially recognizing that "life begins at conception."

Another message was sent by his choice of Furman University, which is a Baptist college, but not a cultish, backward school like Bob Jones University. (Bob Jones III already endorsed Mitt Romney, which most locals are making fun of, right about now.)

Huckabee's Furman rally was billed as "a rally and jam session"--wherein Huckabee picked up his trademark bass. Reaching out to the kids, and all that.

Huckabee sees state as 'turning point'

Thursday, January 10, 2008 - Greenville News

By Ron Barnett
STAFF WRITER

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee told voters in Spartanburg and Greenville on Wednesday that South Carolina, a state with plenty of evangelical Christian voters such as those who propelled him to victory in Iowa, will be the springboard that launches him to the GOP presidential nomination.

"South Carolina is going to be a turning point in this process, and you're going to be part of a great piece of history," the former Baptist preacher told about 300 people at the Marriott hotel in Spartanburg.

Huckabee's biggest crowd of the day was at Furman University, where 1,500 people crammed into the Younts Conference Center to hear him lay down a booming bass line with a local band on the rock standard "Taking Care of Business" and to hear his vision for the country.

"Over the past few weeks, something truly amazing has happened," he said, referring to his rise in the national polls. "It's not about a campaign. It's about a cause."

Huckabee spoke about the need for ending America’s dependence on foreign oil, which he said is financing both sides in the war on terrorism, and in both events, he drew loud applause with his plan for tax reform and his view on the sanctity of life.

“It is the view I held before I got into politics, not in order to get into politics,” he said, in an apparent jab at Mitt Romney, who supported abortion rights in the past.

Huckabee struck a chord with his Fair Tax proposal, particularly the part that calls for abolishing the IRS. He said the federal tax code is beyond repair.

“We know in the South that if you can’t fix something with WD-40 and duct tape, it can’t be fixed,” he quipped.

Flanked by Mike Campbell, son of former Gov. Carroll Campbell, and former Gov. David Beasley, he downplayed his third-place finish in New Hampshire.

“We haven’t seen anything but snow and ice for the last three weeks,” he said moments after landing at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport. “It sure is good to get down in the South.”

Some people were still trying to make up their minds about him.

Traci Wallace, a physical therapy student at Greenville Technical College, sat in the second row with a spiral-bound notebook in her lap, ready to take notes. “I like him so far,” she said. “I’m really here to see what he has to say about the war and the economy.”

Most of the crowd was already in the Huckabee camp.

Asked what she likes about the candidate, Cindy Jackson said: “Everything.” His faith topped her list.

“He’s a Christian. I know that for sure,” she said, identifying herself as a member of Echo Hills Baptist Church in Greer.

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Listening to: Minor Threat - Straight Edge
via FoxyTunes

The Political Playoffs have begun!

Left: Is Mike Huckabee the next president?

~*~

Well, you gotta start somewhere. And so, we begin in Iowa, the center of the country. The political playoffs start TONIGHT!

The vote is so close on BOTH sides that campaigns are openly offering baby-sitting, transportation and sandwiches for whoever comes out and stands up (literally) for their candidates. (Wouldn't that kind of accommodation be great for the GENERAL ELECTIONS, too?) The Iowa caucuses are actual meetings in which people must publicly vote for their favorites, not quietly disappear into a voting booth. This raises the stakes, considerably.

As Obama said recently, Iowa's up-close-and-personal vetting process gives voters a chance to look under the hood and kick the tires, so to speak. The people in Iowa get the longest and most in-depth opportunity to inspect presidential wannabes. If they don't know them, none of us do. Politico.com reports:

In 1,781 precincts across the frigid face of Iowa, Republicans and Democrats start meeting in early evening — most caucuses start at 7 p.m. (8 p.m. EST) — to begin winnowing tightly bunched fields in both parties and start setting the contours of what is likely to be an unparalleled nomination sprint.

The candidates were up late — New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee showed up on late night television — and rose early for one last day of stump speeches and rallies designed to bolster the faithful and woo the undecided.

"I feel good, but it depends on who comes out, who decides to actually put on their coats, warm up their cars and go to the caucuses," Clinton said in a taped appearance on CBS’s "The Early Show."

About 120,000 to 150,000 people were expected to come to the Democratic caucuses and 80,000 to 90,000 to the GOP meetings.

And as more than one pundit has recently commented, 80,000 votes is nothing in a place like Los Angeles or Manhattan. Yet, the people of Iowa are very savvy; they've been through it all before. For example, many will not "declare" at all, right up until the vote. They've seen candidates repeatedly blow it, like, the very day of the caucuses. Hidden scandals, clueless and/or stupid statements to the press, flared tempers, anything could tip the scales at this late hour. And they are watching.

The big news will be Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, possibly floating to victory on a fundamentalist Christian vibe and general evangelical adulation. Nothing seems likely to touch him right now. It's Wars of Religion on the right: Mormon Governor Mitt Romney vs. Baptist preacher Huckabee. Senator John McCain may throw a monkey wrench into the works, tapping some of the Republican Hawk vote.

On the left, the constantly-shifting polls show a near three-way tie, with Senator John Edwards mere percentage points behind Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. Women have promised to come out for Hillary in droves, while the idealistic college kids are feverish for Obama. The working-class populists, traditional old-style Union Democrats, are solid behind Edwards.

Meanwhile, Republican Texas Congressman Ron Paul, another wild card, may skim substantial libertarian, anti-war votes from both sides. And when it's this close, every single vote counts.

The playoffs! Can you FEEL the excitement!? Stay tuned, sports fans!

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Listening to: Passions - I'm in Love With a German Film Star
via FoxyTunes

Mitt Romney has his cake, eats it too

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney gave his "John Kennedy" speech recently, promising that his Mormonism would not be an issue as President of these United States. At the same time, he talked up faith (generic faith in God, or Christian faith specifically?) as important and crucial. Huh?

Well, Governor, if it is, you have just given everyone the right to question you about it.

In his speech, Romney said:

"Almost 50 years ago another candidate from Massachusetts explained that he was an American running for President, not a Catholic running for President. Like him, I am an American running for President. I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith.

"Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin."

All very well and good. And then, he said:

"We should acknowledge the Creator as did the Founders – in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places. Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our constitution rests. I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from 'the God who gave us liberty.'

"Nor would I separate us from our religious heritage. Perhaps the most important question to ask a person of faith who seeks a political office, is this: does he share these American values: the equality of human kind, the obligation to serve one another, and a steadfast commitment to liberty?"

Say what? What is he talking about? Isn't this a contradiction? Slate's John Dickerson explains:

Will the pitch work politically? It's a long shot. There are better ways to go after Mike Huckabee: Romney is not going to out-God a Baptist minister. He could do more damage by spending the days on which he'll now be answering for his religion on blasting Huckabee's tax and immigration record. The speech also raises expectations for Romney's performance in Iowa, because it is the biggest dramatic moment he can create to change the political dynamic. By investing in this way, he makes a possible caucus loss to Huckabee all the more dramatic.

If Romney skirts specific doctrinal questions, he'll get himself out of talking about "reformed" Egyptian hieroglyphics and explaining his view on the afterlife—but also limit his chance to win over voters who want to know about just those things. Vague is bad for Romney: It can make him look calculating and insincere, which is already the rap against him. That's what tripped him up when he talked about the Bible in the debate. He seemed to be dancing around an issue that evangelicals think should be in his heart. Elites mocked George Bush when he said in a debate that his favorite philosopher was Jesus, but to evangelical voters, the quick answer from Bush's gut showed he was really one of them.

I decided I didn't like Romney when he got the endorsement from Bob Jones III. If Pope Bubba likes him, count me out. That tells us all we need to know about him, doesn't it?

In Iowa, as the New York Times reports, the Wars of Religion continue:

On Monday, Mr. Huckabee, a former governor of Arkansas, raised the stakes when he began broadcasting an advertisement in Iowa that emphasizes his faith and declares him to be a “Christian leader” — all in capital letters — which some might view as a shot at Mr. Romney.

Chip Saltsman, Mr. Huckabee’s campaign manager, said the campaign had no intention of making any kind of allusion to Mr. Romney’s being a Mormon, saying the idea was simply to introduce Mr. Huckabee to Iowans.

“It’s not like this is a new issue for him,” said Mr. Saltsman, referring to Mr. Huckabee’s faith. “He’s talked about this issue everywhere he goes.”

Mr. Huckabee’s advisers admit privately they are cognizant of how Mr. Romney’s religion can work against him and how Mr. Huckabee’s evangelical roots are to their advantage at least among some voters. They pointed out, however, that all candidates have aspects of their biographies that can be beneficial or not, depending on the audience.

The issue is a delicate one for Mr. Huckabee. He has waffled in recent interviews about whether he considers Mormons to be Christians. The Southern Baptist Convention, the denomination he is a part of, does not consider Mormons to be part of historic Christianity.

And meanwhile, down in Columbia, Romney is charging Mike Huckabee with being too liberal. (And if that doesn't give you chills, nothing will.)

Romney Assails Huckabee as "Too Liberal"
By Michael D. Shear, Washington Post
December 18, 2007

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney joined the Republican contest this year by pitching himself as the only true conservative.

Now, he finds himself desperately trying to convince people that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee -- a Baptist minister with a staunch pro-life record -- doesn't deserve that label more than he does.

As he began a week-long barnstorming of three early states by plane, Romney assailed Huckabee as a liberal, adding his own voice to television commercials and mailings that his campaign has begun churning out.

Romney told reporters that voters will conclude Huckabee has been "too liberal on immigration," "too liberal on crime" and that he has "too liberal of a spending record and too liberal of a tax record."

On immigration, Romney cited Huckabee's support for a bill that would have granted in-state tuition to illegal immigrants. On crime, he highlighted the 1,033 pardons and commutations Huckabee granted as governor. And on the economy, he said Huckabee presided over a budget that grew from $6 billion to $16 billion.

"I'm convinced that as people take a close look, that the good, conservative Republicans of South Carolina will be supporting a conservative candidate like myself and they won't be supporting governor Huckabee," Romney said. "But time will tell."

A poll out overnight put Romney ahead slightly in South Carolina after another poll had shown him slipping behind Huckabee here, as well as in Iowa. Romney planned to head back to the Hawkeye State for two days of campaigning starting Wednesday.

Romney unveiled a tough, new ad in Iowa attacking Huckabee on the pardon's issue.

"Romney got tough on drugs like meth. He never pardoned a single criminal," the ad says. "And Mike Huckabee? He granted 1,033 pardons and commutations, including 12 convicted murderers."

Huckabee called the ad "desperate and deplorable."

Romney has 16 days to turn things around. Take out Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve and New Year's day, and that leaves 12 days. Twelve days to regain the leads in Iowa and New Hampshire that he has spent $20 million of his own money to achieve.

On the plane trip, his first during the primary campaign, Romney is squiring a dozen national reporters around South Carolina, and then on to Iowa for two days and then back to New Hampshire for three more days.

It's part of a last-ditch effort to regain momentum in a race that seemed well-in-hand a month ago. But that was before Huckabee knocked Romney off his Iowa pedestal, where he had ruled for months.

Romney aides now say they they don't have to come in first in Iowa. But they acknowledge that coming in second would force them to win outright in New Hampshire four days later despite a flood of negative press that would inevitably develop.

The Mitt Romney signs are everywhere here in the upstate, but I saw my first Huckabee bumper sticker yesterday.

Trouble in paradise?

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