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No Christmas truce for right-wing Americans in Panama by Eric Jackson In recent years one of the favorite “wedge issues” that US Republicans have attempted to play is the allegation that Democrats in general and the American Civil Liberties Union in particular are against Christmas. The kernel of truth around which this specious charge is built is that the ACLU and most Democrats are for a concept of the separation of church and state that prohibits the use of public funds or public properties to disseminate religious messages. Most liberal Democrats celebrate religious holidays just like most conservative Republicans do, but as Christmas approached the religious right emphasized its theocratic posture when GOP congressman Virgil Goode Jr. denounced Keith Ellison, a Democrat elected from Minnesota who was the first Muslim elected to the US Congress. At his private swearing in ceremony Ellison placed his hand on Thomas Jefferson's copy of the Qur’an as he took the oath of office. Goode’s comments divided Republicans, with the White House maintaining its silence, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham and others deploring Goode’s comments and a number of other GOP politicians lining up behind Goode. In 2000, George W. Bush carried the Muslim vote by about a 2-1 margin, while Democrat John Kerry garnered nearly 80 percent of Muslim votes in 2004. The shift was most pronounced among Muslims of Arab or South Asian descent --- African-American Muslims, among whose number is counted Keith Ellision, have long voted mainly for Democrats. Here in Panama many of the divisions in the USA are reflected in the local American community. This year, however, there were fewer local accusations that Democrats are anti-Christmas. In fact, it was the right wing of the community here that broke with traditional Christian religious manners by waging an online mudslinging campaign on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day through the Panama Current Events and World email group. The cast of characters here are Don Winner, the owner of the Americans in Panama and Viviendo en Panama email groups and the Panama Guide website and former Air Force intelligence guy; Clyde Jenkins, who moderates the Americans in Panama group for Winner, and two anonymous characters: “dongledon” who takes most of the substance of what he posts from Winner but denies that he’s an alias for Winner; and a “Wade Sample” who began posting occasional right-wing messages with the group this past November. In the days leading up to the Christmas holidays, Winner et al had been attacking this journalist for allegedly being crazy and Dutch journalist Okke Ornstein for alleged domestic violence, in the latter instance claiming that they have documents to prove their case yet failing to produce them. Just a bit before eight o’clock on the morning of Christmas Eve, Winner weighed in: Come on! Get into the Christmas on CEW spirit... Verbally bitch-slap someone. Fart in church. Get drunk and sling some poo. If the pete's were here this would be easy. There's only eight more bitching days left in 2006, so get to work, you f**kwads. Don WinnerThen, early in the afternoon, Wade Sample forwarded one of the familiar US Republican wedge issue attack spams, as follows: One for the liberal Democrats casual manner, think about whether you want the "politicians" spending your tax money. >A billion is a difficult number to comprehend, but one advertising >agency did a good job of putting that figure into some perspective in one >of its releases. > > A. A billion seconds ago it was 1959. >B. A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive. >C. A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age. >D. A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet. >E. A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the >rate our government is spending it. > >While this thought is still fresh in our brain, let's take a look at >New Orleans. It's amazing what you can learn with some simple >division. > >Louisiana Senator, Mary Landrieu (D), is presently asking the >Congress for $250 BILLION to rebuild New Orleans. Interesting number, what does it mean? > >A. Well, if you are one of 484,674 residents of New Orleans (every man, woman, child), you each get $516,528. >B. Or, if you have one of the 188,251 homes in New Orleans, your home gets $1,329,787. >C. Or, if you are a family of four, your family gets $2,066,012. > >Washington, D.C .. HELLO!!! ... Are all your calculators broken?? > >This is too true to be very funny > >Tax his land, >Tax his wage, >Tax his bed in which he lays > >Tax his tractor, >Tax his mule, >Teach him taxes is the rule. > >Tax his cow, >Tax his goat, >Tax his pants, >Tax his coat. > >Tax his ties, >Tax his shirts, >Tax his work, >Tax his dirt. > >Tax his tobacco, >Tax his drink, >Tax him if he tries to think. > >Tax his booze, >Tax his beers, >If he cries, >Tax his tears. > >Tax his bills, >Tax his gas, >Tax his notes, >Tax his cash. > >Tax him good and let him know >That after taxes, he has no dough. > >If he hollers, >Tax him more, >Tax him until he's good and sore. > >Tax his coffin, >Tax his grave, >Tax the sod in which he lays. > >Put these words upon his tomb, >"Taxes drove me to my doom!" > >And when he's gone, >We won't relax, >We'll still be after the inheritance TAX!! > >Accounts Receivable Tax >Building Permit Tax >CDL License Tax >Cigarette Tax >Corporate Income Tax >Dog License Tax >Federal Income Tax >Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA) > >Fishing License Tax >Food License Tax >Fuel Permit Tax >Gasoline Tax >Hunting License Tax >Inheritance Tax >Inventory Tax >IRS Interest Charges (tax on top of tax), >IRS Penalties (tax on top of tax), > >Liquor Tax, >Luxury Tax, >Marriage License Tax, >Medicare Tax, >Property Tax, >Real Estate Tax, >Service charge taxes, >Social Security Tax, >Road Usage Tax (Truckers), >Sales Taxes, > >Recreational Vehicle Tax, >School Tax, >State Income Tax, >State Unemployment Tax (SUTA), >Telephone Federal Excise Tax, >Telephone Federal Universal Service Fee Tax, >Telephone Federal, State and Local Surcharge Tax, > >Telephone Minimum Usage Surcharge Tax, >Telephone Recurring and Non-recurring Charges Tax, >Telephone State and Local Tax, >Telephone Usage Charge Tax, >Utility Tax, >Vehicle License Registration Tax, > >Vehicle Sales Tax, >Watercraft Registration Tax, >Well Permit Tax, >Workers Compensation Tax. > >COMMENTS: Not one of these taxes existed 100 years ago And there was prosperity, absolutely no national debt, The largest middle class in the world and Mom stayed Home to raise the kids. > >What happened????? The faulty history of US taxation somehow passed without comment. However, a couple of women of the Democratic persuasion objected, not to the timing but to the content of the message. Whereupon, early on Christmas morning, “dongledon” replied: Are you f**king real? Foulmouthed, uneducated b***h. Never anything to say. Why don't YOU tell us about Halliburton and Brown & Root instead of flapping your bloody yap? Can't, can ya? Did you attend school? If so, you're a walking argument against educating women. Dong, with posthumous apologies to the Countess de Chatelet, who educated herself After Winner and dongledon weighed in, at 6:59 p.m. Clyde Jenkins capped off the Christmas offensive with this brief message: "Re: One for the liberal Democrats They finally found out why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly. They did a dna test and found out her father was Janet Reno." Merry Christmas, in the style of a certain fringe of Panama’s American community. Most of our local Republicans didn’t participate in this and Jenkins will protest that he’s a "small l" libertarian rather than a Republican as such, but what we saw was one of a number of indications of the frustration that prevails among the right-wing elements whose former political dominance was rejected at the polls by most Americans in November. The central issues over the sea change in political alignments within Panama's American community are the unpopularity of the Iraq War and a perception that individual rights and the rule of law are under assault by the Bush administration.
Since the mid-60s the Republicans were better organized and probably obtained more absentee votes from Panama than did the Democrats. There is no way of knowing how the American voters in Panama cast their absentee ballots this past November, but the Democrats Abroad chapter was larger and more active than its GOP counterpart in 2006. Among the people who came to Democrats Abroad here were a number of military retirees, some of whom used to vote Republican, who are concerned about the damage done to the US Armed Forces in the Iraq debacle. Those members of Panama’s Afro-Antillean community who hold dual citizenship, mostly people who emigrated to the United States or joined the US Armed Forces and then came back to Panama to retire, have long tended to vote more Democratic than Republican. Then there is the influx of American retirees and expatriates that has fed both Democratic and Republican ranks but appears to be largely composed of middle class retirees coming here for economic reasons and disenchanted with the direction in which Bush has led the USA and therefore more receptive to the Democrats’ appeals.
The religious right that looks forward to Armageddon and considers worldly matters like budget deficits, environmental degradation and battered armies irrelevant due to the world’s imminent end does exist in Panama’s American community but is not nearly as influential here as it is within the Republican Party in the USA. After this year’s right-wing Christmas display, they may have a harder time on a local level convincing people to vote Republican because it’s the Christian thing to do.
There is no doubt, however, that in Panama’s chapters of both Democrats Abroad and Republicans Abroad 2007 will be a year in which activists line up with the various presidential primary candidates and build their respective party organizations for the 2008 general elections. The tenor it all takes remains to be seen --- Americans at home and abroad are still bitterly divided, but new issues and styles are likely to emerge in both major parties in the wake of the 2006 tilt toward the Democrats.
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