From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
This Trout is Bitin'
You know Bruce Wilson better as Kossack and recommended-diary stalwart Troutfishing. He's also the co-founder, with Frederick Clarkson, of the Talk to Action blog, which exposes the endless attempts by the Christian right to sink its tentacles as deeply into our society, military and politics as possible. It's fascinating and chilling in equal measure, and Bruce is here to talk about that and more in this week's edition of our C&J interview series, Yes, We're All Staring At YOU!
How long have you been blogging and what originally brought you to Daily Kos?
I started blogging in 2004, one of the cohort of people gripped by the abject horror of the early George W. Bush years. Daily Kos was one of the only group political sites with substantial site traffic where members could post and stand a reasonable chance of getting some decent readership.
Your Kos name is Troutfishing. What's the biggest one you've caught?
Well, my DKos moniker is a tribute to Richard Brautigan, author of Trout Fishing in America, which is about anything but. When I was a little kid I empathized so deeply with fishes that when I saw people angling I'd find nearby hiding spots and throw rocks at the water to scare the fish away. Rather improbably, I never got beaten up for it. Over time my stance has moderated. I still think fish are people too, but they're very tasty. I do fish in a sense---for bullshit or, rather, for evangelists and politicians who emit it in abnormal quantity.
In May of '08 you posted an audio excerpt in which Pastor John Hagee---one of John McCain's bestest buddies in the whole wide world---said some crazy stuff about Hitler. It made McCain squirm and walk his support back, and sucked some of the air out of the right's condemnation of Obama's then-pastor Rev. Jeremiah Wright. What kind of response did you get from the right-wing when you released that?
Mainly people trying to quietly stuff the body back in the closet, trying to defuse via convoluted theological arguments Hagee's claim that Hitler was God's real estate agent delegated with red-lining Jews, via Holocaust, to Palestine---the only place God ever intended the Jewish people to live, claimed Hagee.
Here's the heart of the matter: there's a Christian Zionist/Likud political symbiosis going back to the late 1970's, and John Hagee and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are close allies. Hagee's PR minions are selling Jewish-Americans the proposition that his Christians United For Israel lobby offers benign, non-Book of Revelations based support for Israel---demonstrably a lie. But Hagee's people are to the right of Attila The Hun, and so they're gradually peeling off Jewish support for the Democratic Party. It's bizarre, because Hagee also demonizes Jews to a remarkably vicious degree.
What kind of music makes you feel invincible to the GOP horde?
Since you've put it that way, The Ride Of The Valkyries.
Looking into your crystal ball, how do you see the midterm elections shaking out for the House and Senate?
I don't foresee a disaster for the Democratic Party on the scale of 1994. Strategists on the evangelical right have for decades worked to build a 'rainbow right', but the effort's taking a serious hit now that the knuckledragging, racist wing of the American right is making so much noise. Many conservative black and Hispanic evangelicals who otherwise might be inclined to vote Republican, especially for culture war issues, may be too revolted to do it---they'll either vote blue or just stay home. And I think many white independents and conservatives may also be turned off by Tea Party ideological extremity. Rand Paul and Sharron Angle are emblematic of that---they came in with a bang, now their poll numbers are sagging as the public comes to understand their ideological hostility to government efforts to mitigate the impact of the recession on average Americans and their steadfast support for huge, predatory corporations.
What's the one book every Kossack must read?
That's easy---the one I haven't yet written.
You're the co-founder of the Talk to Action blog, which is a "platform for reporting on, learning about, and analyzing and discussing the religious right---and what to do about it." Is the religious right gaining or losing its mojo within the political-sphere at this point in American history?
The religious right is changing so fast that the movement is outstripping efforts of journalists and researchers to track or understand it. First of all, it's a global movement that's changing American politics but also reshaping entire nations globally---Uganda for example. The charismatic wing of the movement is where the real action is. One of the leaders in this tendency, Lou Engle, has become the de-facto prayer leader for the Republican Party. It's targeting entire states for political takeover (Hawaii, for example) and is infiltrating traditionally liberal cities such as Newark, Orlando, and Baltimore, working with police departments in those cities to "pray down" crime. But what's really going on is the creation of neighborhood watch groups whose church leaders hold a virulently anti-gay, eliminationist ideology. And they're evangelizing the cops, which is what evangelicals do.
Then there are the chilling inroads the movement has made in evangelizing the US military. Spend some time browsing the extensive media archives from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (Disclosure: I worked for MRFF in 2007) and I guarantee you'll come away with a different sense of conservative evangelical influence in U.S. government.
Finish this sentence: In the kitchen I make a mean...
...Niçoise salad. It's a great summer dish and there are lots of substitutions you can make. I like using smoked mackerel in place of the traditional salmon. And you can use just about any dried, salted fish, which is a pretty cheap type of fish, in place of anchovies if those aren't handy. Add local farmer's market tomatoes and green beans... chill, serve... Bon appetit!
No waffling here: dogs or cats?
Dogs.
I have one question left, but I'm so distraught that Time magazine thinks Daily Kos is one of the most overrated blogs---for the second year in a row!---that I can't go on. Please ask and answer the final question yourself...
Why, when people have been writing on the influence of the Christian right in US and world politics for decades now, has the profoundly-ignorant nature of the media discourse changed so little?
In 1994 Campaign and Elections commissioned a study of the relative influence of the Christian right in the Republican Party. The survey was repeated in 2000. By then, according to Spreading Out and Digging In; Christian Conservatives and State Republican Parties, In 2000, Christian conservatives were perceived to hold a strong position in 18 state Republican parties, the same number as in 1994. The moderate category had 26 states, exactly twice the 1994 number. And the weak category declined to seven cases, down from 20 six years prior."
So, the Christian right by 2000 had a strong to moderate level of influence in 44 out of 51 states, and giving the ongoing purge of moderate and secular national Republican politicians I suspect the Christian right's influence has only grown since then. This is the crazy uncle in the attic of American politics that few want to acknowledge---the GOP is in effect the party of Christian (theocratic) supremacy. Barry Goldwater was warning---howling, really---about the Christian right's takeover of the Republican Party trend for over two decades prior to his death, and most media voices are still in denial.
What's wild is that the new Christian right, the charismatic wing, videotapes almost everything it does. The movement chronicles itself, and much of that video is free on the Net. But almost nobody outside of the movement watches it. I can show you a video documentary from a Ugandan evangelist who backs Uganda's so-called "kill the gays bill," showing his people organizing a partnership between Baltimore churches and the Baltimore police department. I lived in Baltimore for a decade and so that's disturbing to me. It's a movement that's not just anti-gay---it claims that all non-charismatic Christianity, all non-Christian religions, and all secular belief systems (atheism, agnosticism, environmentalism, etc.) are evil and under demonic influence. The vision is to purge the Earth of all competing beliefs. It's an expression of Christian supremacy that could hardly be more bigoted or more totalitarian.
You can read the unedited interview at his Talk to Action blog.
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, July 12, 2010
Note: Cockafrickingdoodledoo.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Round 1 of the British Open: 3
Days `til Lollapalooza: 25
Number of psychiatrists in Iraq to serve the population of 30 million there, despite an epidemic of war-related depression and PTSD: 100
(Source: Washington Post via The Week)
Percent of Americans who think gun control laws should be more strict: 40%
Percent of Americans who think gun control laws should be less strict: 16%
(Source: CBS News-New York Times poll via the overrated magazine Time)
Number of medical-marijuana dispensary licenses approved Friday by the State of Maine: 6
Percent chance that President Obama is spending vacation time at Maine's Mount Desert Island next weekend: 100%
(Source: Portland Press Herald)
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Your Monday "Nevada Nugget"
Brought to you by the Netroots Nation convention in Las Vegas July 22-25---10 days and coounting!!!
I highly recommend renting a car and going to Red Rock Canyon and Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. A good half hour ride, but well worth the trip.
---Kossack SpamNunn
If you go to red Rocks, please say hi to Mojave Max for me. (We used to rob banks together...)
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Puppy Pic of the Day: "Avast. I guess. If I must."
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CHEERS to the silence (or not) of the vuvuzelas. The 2010 World Cup which seems like it began in 1988, is now but a memory---a memory that, for many of us, sits there going Bzzzzzzzzz..., slowly driving us mad. The final game was yesterday, and it's official: we have a winner. And if I may say, GREAT TESTICULAROS DE FUEGO!!! Spain has the cutest, most scrumdiddlyumptious soccer team on the planet. Whoooowee. I just wanna call dibs on 'em all, honey. No idea who won the game. Or even who they played or what the score was. It's probably on the Google somewhere.
JEERS to pickin' on the wrong place. In the wake of a federal judge's decision in Massachusetts declaring parts of the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional, all the usual frothing right-wingers crawled out of the woodwork to spout the usual pablum: "Activist/rogue judge," "Liberal court" and blah blah blah. But the worst had to be what passed through the fangs of Andrea Lafferty of the Traditional Values Coalition: "We can't allow the lowest common denominator states, like Massachusetts, to set the standards for the country." Holy shit, that's lame. At his blog, Kossack Adam Siegel posts an epic point-by-point smackdown, starting with the subject dearest to his heart---energy:
Just where does Massachusetts stand in the pack?
• CO2 Emissions per capita: 12,3 tons/year ... or 43rd place. If the nation matched Massachusetts, we’d be putting about 40% less CO2 into the atmosphere.
• Oil consumption per capita: 28th (not ‘great’, but certainly not lowest common denominator). If the nation matched Massachusetts (with its home heating oil), we’d be using 10% less oil.
• Transit ridership per capita: #3
Some simple statistical examples of the energy situation across the country that certainly suggest that Massachusetts and Massachusetts residents are far from the nation’s "lowest common denominator".
If the nation matched Massachusetts, we’d be polluting less and sending fewer dollars overseas for imported oil.
Read it all, it's beautiful. Y'know, even conservative Massachusettsianites oughtta be pissed that some fucking outsider would take aim at their home which, in addition to the above, is also one of the original colonies where the first patriots of the revolution died, and the state that hosted the original fucking tea party, you idiots!!! [Straightens tie] Ahem. And also, Massachusetts isn’t a state. It's a commonwealth.
JEERS to a really silly way to go. 206 years ago today, Treasury Secretary and Founding Father Alexander Hamilton died after getting knocked off in a duel the day before. Little known fact: the weapons were Super Soakers and Hamilton actually drowned. It's true---I read it on Conservapedia.
P.S. I still believe this Hamilton/Burr-themed milk commercial contains one of the all-time best set-ups for a joke. Bwahvo. Bwahvo.
CHEERS to plotting the progressive revolution...with a side of gazpacho! Steady rain wasn't enough to keep a handful of influential Kossacks away from the secluded cottage of host Mayim for a mini-meetup Saturday in Norway, Maine. Yours truly, plus Common Sense Mainer, Commonmass, Debbie in Maine, Simple, two cats and two dogs discussed the finer points of hide-rating and diary-pimping. (The cats participated from under the bed on account of the dogs.) Then the food was served and the conversation was pretty much limited to "nom nom nom." After lunch we voted on a second stimulus package which includes rehabilitating America's crumbling infrastructure and an extension of unemployment benefits. Unfortunately someone put an anonymous hold on it. Lesson learned: don’t let dogs in on the legislative process no matter how much they beg.
CHEERS to sending mail via Persian Post. C&J writes a letter:
Dear Iran,
Hi, how are you. I am fine. Only six lawn-dart accidents so far this summer, but still hoping we can break last year's record of 23 by Labor Day. Fingers crossed!
Say, I'm writing to commend you for your recent decision to not stone that lady who allegedly committed adultery. A very wise choice, as July is simply too late for the act to have any effect on the abundance of your crops. Always remember: "Stoning in June, corn high soon. Stoning any time after, and you're just throwing money down the ol' shafter."
However, we're totally on board with your death sentence on mullets.
Hugs to all y'all's mullahs...and snip snip!
BiPM
[Circles ear with finger]
JEERS to another week of BP BS. The volcano of oil continues gushing, but not for long if the installation of a new "cap" is successful. (We hear this one's called a "fez," which might normally be funny except that the situation has become so absurd on every level that you're not sure whether it's a joke or not, are you?) It's really depressing to think that we've gotten so used to the brown cloud that it's like waking up next to your significant other every morning...if your significant other was a gushing plume of toxicity the size of Nebraska that was killing an entire region of its wildlife, fishing and tourism. But, hey---if that's who ya want to hang out with, who am I to judge.
CHEERS to Cabin Boy. Henry David Thoreau was born 193 years ago today. He told the world to "Simplify! Simplify!" Clearly a Mac user.
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Five years ago in C&J: July 12, 2005
CHEERS to June 8, 2006. Have pea flicker--will travel. The date and location of the first Yearly Kos convention was announced last week (330 days and counting). If you're not thrilled with gambling, we hear there's still plenty to do. For example, C&J will host the "Involuntary GOoPer Bungee Jump" at Hoover Dam Friday night. Light refreshments will be served.
CHEERS to Frank Lautenberg. The New Jersey Senator scores a direct hit on Bush's Brain:
"Karl Rove has accused liberals of not understanding the consequences of 9-11, but he's the one who blew the cover of a covert CIA agent. The President should immediately suspend Karl Rove's security clearances and shut him down by shutting him out of classified meetings or discussions."
Or---and this is just a random thought---shutting him out of the White House?
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And just one more...
CHEERS to extra nibbles. A couple bonus questions for Troutfishing:
This next question may be impossible to answer: among the Republicans running for House or Senate seats this year, which one do you think is the flat-out most bizarre?
There are so many GOP candidates espousing fringe ideas it's hard to know where to start. Unfortunately, because local mainstream media is so financially damaged from the recession, the rise of Net-driven news, and Craiglist's undermining of the traditional media ad base, there's little real state level coverage of this. So Sam Brownback, running for the Kansas governor's seat, was for 7 months a condo-mate with Lou Engle, according to Engle, who claims gays are possessed by demons. I doubt one out of a hundred or a thousand Kansans are aware of this. Few Hawaiians know Republican gubernatorial candidate James "Duke" Aiona is close to evangelist Ed Silvoso, who compares his opponents to rats that should be exterminated. On and on.
Based on what I've seen, right-wing religious groups don’t seem to be too terribly visible in, or linked to, the tea party gaggle. Is that your sense, too?
Not so much. A lot of the rank and file Tea Party members may well be libertarians but if you look at photos from recent Tea Party rallies across America you'll find many signs calling Obama the "Antichrist" and warning of an impending "New World Order." My favorite was "Taxpayers are the Jews for Obama's Ovens." Those tropes are coming from apocalyptic religious narratives, found on the evangelical right, which literally envision that Christians will soon be persecuted in the way the Nazis persecuted Europe's Jews. I see the Tea Party movement in part as an evangelizing tool that pulls secular libertarians towards the Christian right.
All together now: Ohhhhhhhhhhhh joy.
Let's just keep our heads down and we might make it through Monday with our sanity intact. Well, you at least---it's way too late for me. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
They may not be the 500-pound "Frankenwilliams" that some researchers were talking about 10 years ago, but a Massachusetts company says it's on the verge of receiving federal approval to market a quick-growing Bill in Portland Maine that's been genetically modified.
---Les Blumenthal
McClatchy Newspapers
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