Dead on the Fourth of July
Today saw the passing of former US senator Jesse Helms, right wing supporter of death squads in El Salvador, opponent of federal spending on AIDS research, bosom buddy to big tobacco, enemy to the arts, and recalcitrant southern racist. In varied dark and twisted ways, Helms incarnated the worst, most inbred aspects of American culture. Narrow minded, petty, unshakably ideological, he and Cardinal Ratzinger (the present day pope) were the chief bogeymen of my college days. The dead one for his many sins of commission, the other for his clueless stance on liberation theology in Central America, and his unconscionable hostility to clergy who were laying their lives on the line to defend the very souls being snuffed by Jesse’s buds in San Salvador. Two sides of the same coin? You decide. As for me, I know there’s one grave in North Carolina that deserves some serious foot stomping tonight…
Filed under: america, war | Leave a Comment
Tags: Helms
No Responses Yet to “Dead on the Fourth of July”