Month: September 2003

MAD AS HELL

Post author By Cheri DelBrocco
Post date September 2, 2003

ROCKIN’ WITH ROY

Roy’s Rock rolled. It only took three minutes to jack it up and roll it out of the Alabama courthouse. You know the one – the two and a half ton slab of marble with the Protestant version of the Ten Commandments. Now, Roy the Rebellious is rash with religiosity. Thankfully, he is also powerless. And of course, anyone who disagrees is a God-hater.

Two years ago, in the middle of the night, after much bombast and ceremony, Judge Roy Moore moved the washing-machine sized monument into his state’s rotunda. Some group with the word eagle in their name paid for all of it. He never consulted with the other judges, he never informed the public. But he claimed that because he was a state judge, his oath required his constant acknowledgement of God and it was real important that he make that acknowledgement at all times, thus the rock.

He also made a lot of other claims – America is a nation founded by Christians, Christians are victims of religious bigotry and persecution, Federal judges will come in the night to confiscate Bibles, and if anyone in Alabama attempted to take the monument out of the state house, it would be a call for “religious genocide”. Whew. We’re talking serious crackpot stuff, folks.

Now, I don’t know about you, but if there are over 350 churches in Montgomery, Alabama – mostly all Protestant evangelical – doesn’t it sound just a bit strange to hear that it is the Christians who are being persecuted? Gosh, all those hundreds of thousands of Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Wiccans, Scientologists, and Zoroastrians in Montgomery should be a little more considerate! The accusation that Christians, in Alabama, or anywhere else in the U.S., are victims of religious bigotry reveals how the meaning of the term “bigotry” has been inverted by fundamentalists. While seeking a “Christian” nation, by forcing others to submit to his rule, the judge is claiming discrimination. Oh, the irony!

But there were lots of ironies in the antics of Roy’s rabble who showed up to support the rock. Before the monument was moved, folks laid down and prayed before it. I wondered if that was violating the commandment that says not to worship graven images, but it didn’t seem to bother any of the Christian “defenders”, so I guess it was okay. A protester carried a 10-foot cross stating that “they can move the monument, but they can’t take it out of our hearts.” I wondered why, if it is in his heart, it is so important to have it in the state courthouse?

The greatest irony, however, is that in the South, where Roy and most of his supporters come from – where a Baptist church is on almost every corner – quality of life is..well, not the greatest. Just think, the people who have called for the Ten Commandments to posted in public schools, courthouses, airports, park benches, post offices, train stations, and telephone poles, live in the region of the country that has the highest rates of poverty, drug abuse, crime, divorce, illiteracy, incarcerations, executions, alcohol dependency, domestic violence, veneral disease, school dropouts, and gun related homicide. Something about that seems inverted, too.

Christian fundamentalism, like all other forms of religious fundamentalism, fosters ignorance and certitude through the use of force. It creates division, and prevents progress through unity. Keep that in mind, the next time you turn on your television and see a fellow braying like a donkey, and calling people God-haters. Better yet, next time you hear about another one of those car- bombings in the Middle East, ask yourself if the perpetrator is a religious fundamentalist just following God’s law.

Politics Politics Beat Blog

CARNEGIE WALL

Post author By Cheri DelBrocco
Post date September 2, 2003

Sandy Levine points out Don and Martha

The Carnegie Deli at 7th Avenue and 55th St. in midtown Manhattan offers what might be the largest and most edible sandwich portions of any eatery anywhere (the pastrami is mountain-sized; the Reuben, swimming in a homemade succulent sauce, redefines the species); it also serves up some passing large coincidences.

Take about 5 p.m. last Tuesday night, when a few handlers from the Howard Dean campaign led a busload of journalists into the place, which was already crowded and would stay that way. This was a chance for the group, who had been touring the country with Democratic presidential candidate Dean, to light for a while in the company of one or more of the bountiful snacks. No sooner were they seated than a large, gregarious man who introduced himself as Sandy Levine, the manager, came stalking in to ask, “Anybody here know Governor Sundquist or Governor Musgrove?”

Now, Tennessee’s former governor and Mississippi’s present one were both known to at least one member of the visiting party — moi — but, even as I acknowledged the fact, I couldn’t fathom why he should have named just those two. Half of our group hailed from New York, a goodly part of the remainder called D.C. home, and the rest were from points north or from urban areas of Florida (the next closest thing to north).

And while, as it turned out, framed and autographed photos of both Don Sundquist (with wife Martha) and Ronnie Musgrove were attached to the wall of the room we were seated in, so were hundreds — if not thousands — of other such photographs, from political and athletic and entertainment celebrities of every kind, from every point of origin under the sun.

Whatever the reason, Levine had pushed my button, and once he’d ID’d me, went on to point out the photographs in question, then said, “You know Senator Persons? I got something to show you from him!” Now, that had to be Curtis Person (not Persons), the state senator who represents portions of East Memphis, Cordova, and Germantown, but now the coincidence was turning uncanny. I do indeed live in Curtis Person’s senate district.

And, sure enough, just around the corner in another room was another wall covered from side to side and top to bottom with framed photographs and mementoes, and Sandy (he was one of those specimens who get to be on first-name terms with you right away) proudly showed me the certificate, signed by Curtis Person and other state officials, which made him an honorary citizen of Tennessee.

Moral of the story? There is none — unless it is that the political skills of the formidable Senator Person — who has been opposed for reelection only once since 1966 — extend to midtown Manhattan. Or that Governor Sundquist, the frustrated tax-reform advocate whose tenure has been put somewhat in the shade by the legislative prowess of budget-cutting successor Phil Bredesen, still has boosters in the Big Apple. Or that Governor Musgrove, locked in a close battle this year with Haley Barbour, is running ahead in the Carnegie poll.

Or that, indeed, it is a small world. But one with prenaturally large, delicious sandwiches. The Carnegie Deli — even without Sandy’s several teeming walls — is not to be missed.