Last week, the Editor whimpered something about damned responsibility preventing him from getting one of those infamous leftard drinks known as a latte.

I was reminded of his 10.23am latte withdrawals when the book I’m currently reading, Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism by Michelle Goldberg, mentioned them. Goldberg’s book is, clearly enough, about the rise of Christian nationalism, that is, right-wing evangelical and fundamentalist so-called Christianity. A snippet from the book’s website describes it as thus:

In Kingdom Coming, Goldberg demonstrates how an increasingly bellicose fundamentalism is gaining traction throughout our national life, taking us on a tour of the parallel right-wing evangelical culture that is buoyed by Republican political patronage. Deep within the red zones of a divided America, we meet military veterans pledging to seize the nation in Christ’s name, perfidious congressmen courting the confidence of neo-confederates and proponents of theocracy, and leaders of federally funded programs offering Jesus as the solution to the country’s social problems.

I was amused by a paragraph she wrote and I wanted to share. Writes Ms Goldberg:

[D]uring the Democratic primary season [in 2004], the right-wing Club for Growth ran an anti-Howard Dean ad featuring an elderly Middle American couple ranting against a type that populates much of the Northeast and Northwest. The man began, “I think Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading…” His wife continued: “…body piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont where it belongs.” Imagine for a moment, if MoveOn had run an anti-Bush ad that called his following a gun-toting, Bible-thumping, McDonald’s-eating, gay-bashing, gas-guzzling right-wing freak show. There would have been no end of hand-wringing about the supercilious secular elite and their contempt for so-called ordinary Americans. Having defined Americanism as an amalgam of anti-intellectualism, provincialism, self-righteousness, and bellicosity, conservatives then attack everyone who finds these things repellent as unpatriotic, and few mainstream voices challenge them. (Incidentally, conservative evangelicals are the only religious faction I’ve encountered who sell lattes in church.)

It seems that even one of the bastions of right-wing rabble-rousing — the pseudo-political evangelical, fundamentalist “Christian” church — cannot resist the lure of a leftie latte.

It’s a well-researched, well-presented book, very alarming and a good record of the damage the right-wing “Christian” nationalists are doing to the good ol’ US of A. I finished reading it tonight while drinking a flat white with one sugar. Go get this book. Highly recommended.

Lachlan Connor has announced that he will release a policy each day for the rest of this week, ahead of a trip to Canberra on the weekend to “soak up the democracy.” I wonder if he’s going to drop into Fyshwick to soak up anything else?

Here is Lachlan’s first policy release for the week: education.

GrodsCorp reported last week that uber-blogger Samuel Gordon-Stewart was considering a tilt at Parliament and was running a poll on his site to help him make his final decision. Thanks in part to the effort of GrodsCorp readers, Samuel has decided to run as an independent in the seat of Fraser. He announced his candidature live on Canberra radio station 2CC — listen to the interview.

Here at GrodsCorp we wholeheartedly support Samuel’s effort and will help him wherever possible by keeping the people of Fraser and Australia informed about his campaign. If you want a little bit of background on the man that is Samuel Gordon-Stewart you can read a GrodsCorp profile here.

Remember: Vote 1 Samuel Gordon-Stewart.

Episode 29: In which Lachlan begins planning a campaign trip to Canberra.
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Episode 28: In which Lachlan announces his government advertising policy and gives a behind-the-scenes glimpse at his own campaign advertisement.
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Lachlan Connor has updated his website with a self-produced campaign advertisement. In the advertisement he shows himself to be a proud Victorian, argues that independents are crucial in federal Parliament, and calls for Victorians to let him fight for the state and the country on their behalf.

Episode 26: In which Jacob encounters his ex and Lachlan jumps the shark.
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Episode 25: In which Jacob’s girlfriend moves into Lachlan’s house.
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Lachlan Connor has posted a personal broadcast on his blog that responds to the launch of the Kevin07 internet campaign. Lachlan seems to think it’s a cynical effort to connect to the internet generation.

Episode 24: In which Lachlan cops a grilling by Billy.
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Lachlan Connor has today launched his Advertising to Children policy. He explains the policy in more detail in a YouTube personal broadcast.

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Episode 23: In which Billy and his sister threaten to turn Lachlan’s campaign into a total farce.
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Politics in Taiwan are quite exciting, because as we all know, their politicians don’t mind a bit of biffo every now and then.

Wouldn’t Australian politics be far more interesting if Kevin Rudd jumped over the bench during Question Time and kicked the shit out of Peter Costello while screaming “Smirk at me! Go on, I dare ya!”?

During the unholy reign of Mark Latham, violence in the house remained a tantilising prospect, but unfortunately, Kevin Rudd is a sissy and about as likely to give Howard a Liverpool Kiss as I am to give Howard a regular kiss.

But guess what? Those Taiwanese fights are staged.

They are planned in advance to generate media attention and garner favour with voters who like to see their representatives fight as hard as they can on tough issues.

Lawmakers even call up allies to ask that they wear sports shoes ahead of the choreographed clashes. They have been known to meet up afterwards for drinks.

“It’s really a media event, staged for media coverage,” said Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Joanna Lei. “They have a strategy session, like a war plan.”

Would Australian politicians dare stage fights? I think if the major parties really want young people to get excited about politics, it’s time for some action, baby!

Now that’s what I call political discussion!

Channel 7 have replaced Channel 9, not only in the ratings, but in pro-Liberal bias in their news reporting.

Consider this morning’s 10:30 news.

Channel 7 devoted about a minute to Kevin Rudd’s budget reply, promptly followed by a surprise interview with John Howard, in which he spent 3-4 minutes continually blasting Rudd and the ALP with a succession of empty comments. The newsreader (not bothering to contain her smirk) helped by asking our beloved PM hard-hitting questions along the lines of “Your campaign appears to have the momentum of a runaway freight train, why are you so popular?”.

This kind of journalism makes my stomach churn.

In other budget news, Kevin Rudd’s reply actually had more viewers than Costello’s budget announcement. No mention of this on the usual suspects.

Why am I not surprised?