Connecting Dots

One thing I treasure about David Neiwert and Sara Robinson at Orcinus is that they take the time to connect the dots. Herewith I recommend a series of posts on the Christianist attempt to take over the country, presented in several posts, first by Dave, then a follow-up by Sara, the back to Dave again, with a sort of sidebar by Sara linking this whole phenomenon to the white supremacists.

I've attempted to connect some of these dots myself, as in this post and this one. I'd also like to mention this story, with the observation that the program discussed here is one funded by Bush's Office of Faith-Based Initiatives.

If this all starts to sound too much like conspiracy thinking, I'd like to point out a few things. In addition to the preponderance of radical Christianists in the military, we have seen the Justice Department packed with right-wing loyalists, of whom almost all are devout "Christians" of the Bush/Dobson/Robertson variety (anyone remember Aschroft's daily "voluntary" prayer meetings?); anti-science political operatives put in charge of NOAA, FDA, and the CDC, censoring public statements by scientists at those institutions (and in the case of the FDA, overruling recommendations of the scientific panels on things like Plan B and dragging their heels on implementing procedures for vaccinations against HPV); and, going back to the Office of Faith-Based Iniatives, the farce involved in the review of grant applications.

I don't know how many of you remember the seventies and eighties, when the religious right was making its first political moves, but they were grassroots. The Christianists ran "stealth candidates" for local offices -- city councils, school boards, and the like -- who ran on what was essentially a false platform and kept very quiet about their real agendas, which were pretty much what we see from the open Christianists of today: no sex education in schools, reducing availability of family planning information, negative treatment of gays (any neutral discussion was trumpeted as "promoting" homosexuality). It wasn't a chance thing: it was a deliberate strategy to take over local governments to enforce the Christianist social agenda. One sees similar tactics in the attempts to insert Biblical creation into science classrooms: proponents are advised to downplay the religious aspect of the "theory" in order to circumvent the Establishment Clause. And now they're working from the White House, the courts, and the Congress.

And yes, there are practical effects, as pointed out by Neiwert:

There is little question, scientifically speaking, that the fish kill was caused by the shutoff of water into the Klamath River. Both federal and private scientists have studied the matter, and unanimously concluded that it was caused by the loss of oxygen due to the extremely low flows. Smith should know this, and one must suspect he is fully informed on the subject and just making shit up.

Moreover, Smith also claims in the R-G interview that the fish didn't die until 18 months later. In fact, the kill occurred in September 2002, and the shutoff was in March 2002.

But the most mendacious aspect of this is his characterization of the groups he was coming to the defense of. It wasn't the Klamath Basin farmers he was defending; rather, it was a group of bellicose right-wing extremists who were claiming the loss of water for farmers was part of a New World Order conspiracy. Smith and the federal officials -- reaching to the highest levels of the Bush administration -- who kowtowed to their claims and probably broke the law in the process were in fact enabling and empowering fanatics of the most conspiratorial militiaman stripe.

The net effect was that the salmon industry in the Klamath basin was almost completely destroyed and the farmers who were the ostensible beneficiaries of the program weren't helped at all.

One essential component of the Christianist take-over is their overwhelming influence on the media. It's not just the popularity of wingnut talk radio, but the sight of CNN, NYT, WaPo, AP and any number of other outlets with their tails between their legs, idolizing idiots like Thomas Friedman, David Brooks, David Broder, and other "pundits" who have been wrong about everything while they continue to give validity and credibility to compulsive liars like James Dobson and Tony Perkins. The news is clogged with non-issues while the issues are ignored. (As a sidebar to this, I've begun to realize that I don't even bother to read the MSM any more. I subscribe to NYT, WaPo, the Chicago Tribune and am registered at a couple of other papers, but I've found their coverage to be so often beside the point that these days I follow the links from blogs to the stories, which actually enables me to survey more points of view, and sometimes get some real substance.)

I'm starting to ramble. The bottom line here is: Freedom of religion is good, but it has to apply to everyone. The corollary is that the Christianists are liars. Always.

(Footnote 1: If you chance by blogs such as Black Five or other military blogs, chances are very good that you'll run across repeated references to "warriors." Sounds noble doesn't it? It's myth-building, and I'm not against that per se. Nor am I about to deny the bravery and dedication of our troops in combat. They are doing something that I am very happy I've never had to do, and it's something that in general is necessary in this flawed world. I just want to point out that myth-building at some point leaves reality behind.)

(Footnote 2: I find it ironic that those who claim to follow a teacher who stressed interdependence, accommodation, compassion, forgiveness and love must have an enemy to justify themselves and their beliefs.)