Beast with Three Heads

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Every time I begin feeling sorry for myself because I live in a state (Missouri) which has such ignorant, backwater politicians, I usually  recover quickly by looking at what other states are coughing up as political leaders. Yes, the show-me state's GOP governor seems to be doing everything humanly possible to keep the pandemic going, and yes, our junior United States senator posed with his fist in the air in what appeared to be an attempt to fire up the traitors during the January 6th insurrection, and yes, one of our current GOP senate candidates earned his fifteen minutes of fame by stumbling around his yard aiming an automatic weapon at BLM protesters who were marching nearby, and yes, another senate candidate (and former GOP governor of Missouri) duct-taped his naked mistress to exercise equipment in his basement and then took photos of her for blackmail purposes - but all of those loonies are far from being outliers in today's Republican Party.  The GOP insanity seems to be boundless and limitless.

Yesterday there was a story in the news about a man who may run for governor of Alabama as a Republican.  The potential candidate is a businessman whose father served two separate terms as governor of the state, once in the 1970's as a Democrat, and then as the parties began reversing their principles, a second time in the 1990's as a Republican.  (The ambitious son ran in the 2010 GOP gubernatorial primary in Alabama and came in third - but now apparently feels that he can do better.)

There are some Republicans in Alabama who are angry with their current GOP governor, Kay Ivey.  She enraged them in July when she went against the unofficial Trump support of the COVID virus and said that it was "time to blame the unvaccinated folks" for the ever-spreading pandemic.   Many in the party became so unhinged over that heresy that folks started talking about replacing her.  

Now there are at least three serious crackers contenders lining up to challenge Governor Ivey in the next GOP primary.

And one of those three is the businessman referenced above.   He said yesterday that he was "declaring war" on the "beast with three heads."  That monster apparently includes two traditional Republican boogeymen, critical race theory and transgender rights, but the aspiring political yokel has also added the teaching of "yoga" in public schools to his list of things that Alabamians must be protected against.

Yoga in public schools!

A bit of history:  Kay Ivey signed a bill last May that removed ban on teaching yoga in Alabama's public schools that had been in effect for over thirty years.  Apparently the governor came to the conclusion that it had been instituted as some political stunt and that the subject matter posed no threat to Alabama school children or their families.  A writer with one of Alabama's largest newspapers posted a tweet after the governor killed the ban on yoga that said her reversal on the topic "closed the book on one of the stupidest moral panics in Alabama history, which is really saying a lot."

Ivey's signature reversing the old law still left certain restrictions on the practice of yoga in place:  all yoga "positions" were to have English names, and "chanting, mantras, mudras, use of mandalas, induction of hypnotic states, guided imagery, and namaste greetings" were still expressly forbidden.

The "Eagle Forum" of Alabama, an organization not known for deep thinking, said that Yoga was not exercise but was instead an offering of worship to Hindu deities.

So Alabama allows an Alabama version of yoga to be taught in the public schools - at least for now - but it may not last long because the moral crusaders are pulling on their armor and preparing to slay the beast.

As this current brouhaha began bubbling up in the state's political cauldron, Governor Ivey's office responded that they appreciated the potential candidate's "unwavering commitment to the important fight on yoga," but then noted that Governor Ivey "does not do yoga."

Perhaps she should.  More time spent in peaceful meditation and healthy exercise could undoubtedly help to take the edge off of Alabama politics - and Missouri politics, too, for that matter.

Namaste!