THE 8,000-MEMBER GREATER GRACE TEMPLE in Detroit is the home church of many autoworkers, and its Sunday service on December 7 spoke directly to their troubles. The tone was set by the choir's opening selection, "I'm looking for a Miracle." The Pentecostal pastor kept the spirit moving with a sermon he titled "A Hybrid Hope," after which the congregation joined in a full-throated, hallelujah version of the gospel classic, "We're Gonna Make It." For the men and women who actually do the work in automobile manufacturing (America's quintessential industry), the only hope left for dealing with a catastrophic economic meltdown seems to be prayer.
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Can’t keep a good man down
Time to present another Gooberhead Award for people in the news who’ve got their tongues going 100 miles per hour but forgot to put their brains in gear. It’s a two-fer this month.
First up is Thad Cochran. The Mississippi senator rose to his full height recently to boldly declare that he wasn’t “going to let terrorists shut down our government.”
Unfortunately, Thad was simply explaining why he and his colleagues will continue to take congressional junkets, even though there’s a war going on and our nation is in a recession. Indeed, only 10 days after 9/11, Cochran was out there junketing with the best of them, enjoying a trip to New Orleans courtesy of poultry industry lobbyists.
Yes, even as some of our soldiers were going cave to cave in Tora Bora, some of our lawmakers have been going to luxury destinations, paid for and accompanied by lobbyists for the airlines, the chemical giants, and other interests in need of special legislative favors.
Which brings up Goober No. 2: Rep. Charles Stenholm. Last October, while the Osama hunt was getting started, this Texas Democrat took it as his patriotic duty to attend the tony Breeders Cup horse races in Belmont, New York, as a guest of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. “I never apologize,” said Stenholm after a tough day of being wined and dined. “I had never been to the Breeders Cup.”
Attaboy, Charlie. When the going gets tough, the tough go on junkets