Street Jazz

Watching ABC News the other night and seeing a living room full of women discuss whether they were going to vote for Hillary Clinton, I was struck by the fact that all of the participants seemed to be white-collar.

News organizations don’t have much use for working class voters - or their views - unless they can safely put them into a sort of giant sack for a story.

Here in Detroit, the auto workers are feeling the pain from foreign car makers . . .

Or maybe they’ll talk about Latino unions.

But after that scant few minutes, the reporters will once again be dazzled by the Obama/Clinton sniping, or the mythical “Straight Talking” John McCain.

It would be kind of nice, I think, for working class folks to be represented a little more often - all right, a lot more often - in the media than they are. Lets include some working class (and union) folk on television panels about the economy, for god’s sake.

It might be nice to have some people who can address issues in a down to earth manner, rather than having to listen to folks so busy kissing their own butts they forget there are real issues confronting Americans.

But hey, it would be nice if local news stations would bother to include working class voices, as well.

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And the walls came tumbling down . . .

There is a wonderful wall along North College that collapses every few years, and has been for almost 20 years now. I say “wonderful” because no matter how many times it has been shored up, somewhere along the wall, cracks will appear.

The great thing is, the cracks will develop slowly, and just get bigger and bigger, until one day the wall just falls down. People react like Joshua just got back from the battle of Jericho:

“The wall! It fell down! How could this happen in beautiful downtown Fayetteville?”

Well, the newest crack can be seen along the edges of the wall, if you look into the vacant lot of the old service station that used to be on the corner of North College and Cleburn.

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Cover your mouth with what?

A reporter on a local news station reported the other night that most doctors recommend covering your mouth with your elbow when you cough.

Say what?

Tracy and I both tried this bizarre advice. No luck.

My wife, who is not only an occupational therapist but also has an MFA in Modern Dance, and has spent a good portion of her life in choreography, could not do it.

Well, you might ask, what’s the good of an MFA in Modern Dance if you can’t cover your mouth with your elbow when you cough?

Go ahead - try it. I dunno - maybe some yogi somewhere might be able to do it.

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No complex thinking allowed here, folks

So the American Family Association has come out with their guide on candidates, covering such areas as:

Business Freedom
Opposes laws forcing business to favor homosexuality

Opposes Gay Pride
Refused to support Gay Pride celebrations

Moral Education
Opposes curriculum that promotes homosexuality

Gun Rights
Opposes an assault weapons ban

Human Life Amendment
Supports a national Human Life Amendment
Traditional Marriage
Supports a Federal Marriage Amendment defining marriage
as between one man and one woman only

Naturally, those pesky Democrats fared poorly, while the stalwarts of the GOP (with Ron Paul falling out of lock step on several matters) did just so well. Of course, you can also see why Rudy  Giuliani just wasn’t trusted by these folks. L:ike Paul, his votes were not consistent.

The Huckman, on the other hand, has whored himself completely to their cause.

To see the guide, to go:

www.afa.net/pdfs/08vg.pdf

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Mike Masterson, you are a Silly Man - Chapter 87

Speaking of those who reduce things to such a simplistic level that they make absolutely no sense, gadfly Mike Masterson writes in today’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette about “traditional values.” and those who reject them.

As gadfly Mike writes:

The term is largely synomous with conservative beliefs and a wholesome approach to life.

Mike further goes on to say that these traditional values are under attack by “those who prefer to abandon traditional moral boundaries. These people believe that a lifestyle virtually devoid of standards is superior to the imposed constraints of family values.”

What?

Whether you choose to dismiss this as rank bigotry against people whose lifestyle he does not understand (or approve of), or just plain ignorance, Brother Mike is surely aware that just because someone doesn’t share his view of morality doesn’t mean that they have no morality.

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Maybe Mike Masterson should read this book before he decides to smear people he doesn’t like

It's hard to believe, when we supposedly have the most "moral" president we have had since George Washington - if one is to believe the Crayola wielding social critics who write letters to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette - that someone might have the impertinence to suggest that it's all a sham.

Well, that man is none other than former president Jimmy Carter, who has written a book about what he sees as the dangerous path the current administration is leading us down. "Our Endangered Values: America's Moral Crisis" is a slim volume, but it packs a heavy punch, and says things that we just can't afford to ignore.

For some time now, Christianity has been hijacked by the shock troops of the hard core right-wing in this country, while too many liberals have attempted to put distance between themselves and organized religion - conveniently forgetting who was at the forefront of the anti-war movements, and the civil rights movement.

Give this book to the bigot of your choice.

rsdrake@nwark.com