It could be worse: Archie could be saving a single immigrant lesbian adoptive mother from Pastor Gary Cass.
All the same, expect Ann Coulter to be pissed ... and the rest of Right Wing America. The iconic Archie Andrews will end his life by saving his gay (senator) friend from a bullet.
LOS ANGELES, Calif. - For the fans of Archie Andrews, his impending death marks a fitting end for the do-gooder comic book icon.
The famous 73-year-old red-headed comic book character will die in Wednesday's installment of "Life with Archie" when he intervenes in an assassination attempt on senator Kevin Keller, Archie Comics' first openly gay character who is pushing for more gun control in Riverdale. Andrews' death was first announced in April and will mark the conclusion of the series that focuses on grown-up renditions of Andrews and his pals.
It's a startling double-punch for the comic book character: the themes of social justice and gun control are so blatantly featured that the Right (Christian or otherwise) will be fuming and foaming.
The 73-year-old Archie Andrews has implanted itself on the American pop culture scene like no other comic book character: there are dozens of Archie pin-offs and franchises and the Archie website has garnered over 40 million views. The Life With Archie series has been perhaps the most dramatic, focusing on adventure stories and highlighted with social issues. It centered on an Archie beset with career and marital problems. And although it also featured a parallel universe with Archie and the gang poised as super-heroes, the underlying tenor was Archie trying to do the right thing.
Doing The Right Thing
It is ironic that perhaps Archie Andrews' moral character is the problem for Right Wing (esp. NRA) America: according to Pastor Gary Cass, as a Christian, Archie should have been carrying a gun and according to Joseph Farah (WND), Archie should have been disgusted with the Senator's lifestyle in the first place, opining that he was probably part of the "Gaystapo". For former General Jerry Boykin, it would definitely not be a WWJD moment. Certainly not HIS Rambo Jesus.
Blame Doonesbury?
Of course, comic strips/books with a particularly leftist, socialist bent are not new, the legendary Doonesbury by Gary Trudeau coming to mind. But upon further investigation, characters such as Orphan Annie ushered in a social conscience during the Roosevelt years. Bringing Up Father (main characters Jiggs and Maggie) focused on the problems of the nouveau-riche starting 1911. In lampooning Republican/patrician mores of the times, comic strips and comic books took a decidedly left-wing worldview.
Yahoo News:
Andrew Wheeler, who writes about the comic book industry at ComicsAlliance.com, praised the way that Andrews will be killed off. He wrote on Monday that "Archie's sacrifice isn't just a moment of heroism; it offers an unambiguous condemnation of America's lax gun laws" and said that it's "not surprising to see Archie Comics tackling such a serious issue" because the publisher "doesn't shy away from risky ideas."
How risky, however, may be the key to the upcoming reaction to Archie's demise. It seems that the Right has not yet indicated just how furious it is at Riverdale's permanent teenager heroism. It may just point to a diseased society and the NRA may just dismiss it as a gun control ploy.
Farah, Beck, Starnes and Bachmann may even sniff "conspiracy".
Whatever the reaction, the next days may prove to be even funnier than the "funny papers" that generated Archie.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The Texas House approved a batch of bills Saturday to further soften gun laws that were already among the country's most firearms-friendly, allowing college students to carry handguns in class, putting potentially armed marshals in public schools and exempting the state from any future federal bans on assault rifles, high-capacity magazines or universal background checks.
Texas has exquisite timing: with all that pro-gun legislation coming at the same time that the NRA hosted the world's snazziest gun extravaganza in Houston, it was sure to surround itself with tens of thousands of Second Amendmenters who stood their ground on the nation's gun issues along with some opportunists straight out of a mockumentary:
Nine acres of exhibits at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston show off guns, scopes, grips, holsters, targets, magazines, cabinets, safes and antiques.And that's just the beginning.Zombie Industries sells $90 bleeding zombie targets. The human-scale targets can take thousands of rounds, and come in terrorist, Nazi, alien and zombie kangaroo varieties.
Added to holster bras and, well, you get the picture: it was a show to tell the world that America was "gun country" and that Texas is its capital.
But for all its bravado, Texas looks now looks like the stronghold of isolationism: of then 5 million members boasted by the NRA, most of them live in Texas. And most of them idolize isolationists like Glenn Beck. True, some form of revolt is in the air, but how many states are seriously considering it? How many are so rabidly pro-gun that they are willing to eradicate federal statutes?
What About The Children?
In a horrific accident Tuesday that shocked a rural area far removed from the national debate over gun control, the boy had killed his 2-year-old sister, Caroline, with a single shot to the chest.
The recent incident of 5-year-old Kristian and 2-year-old Caroline shocked the nation, not because so much because of the incident itself, but because it woke up to the fact that, for years, a gun manufacturer had been marketing guns for children. We've all seen children pictured with guns - even assault rifles - but assumed those guns were the property of their parents. "My First Rifle", manufactured by gun maker, Keystone, has been around for a number of years. It even markets to small girls with guns in stereotypical pink.
The NRA shrugged off the incident as a fluke, since "guns are passed down from generation to generation" in rural America and Keystone posturing as an advocate for gun safety.
But urban America is not buying it: the outcry has been horrendous, with Sandy Hook giving everyone visions of even younger assailants gunning down classmates. Try as it might, America cannot wrap its psyche around a child getting a gun as a gift ... at the age of four.
And in Texas, where "everybody carries a gun" (or at least seems to), guns for children seem as natural as toys.
Rick Perry - The Pride Of Gary Cass
"You can't be Christian and not own a gun," has been the rallying cry of sorts for Pastor Gary Cass, who, when following up his statement said that it would definitely go well in Texas. This is an aspect that governor Rick Perry focused on in his appearance at the NRA show-of-strength when he fired off an assault rifle. His appearance, in fact, gave the show a religious imprimatur: ever since he broadcast his Fundamentalist religiosity (along with his blatant homophobia) with a sponsored "prayer rally" in 2011, he has been the darling of the Christian Right.
He has also been the darling of Texas secessionists: his rumblings of revolt have always been heard in the distance, but the current gun debate has made his rumblings into a rather potent roar.
Beyond Glenn Beck
The gun debate has taken the country beyond the conspiracy theories of Glenn Beck: yes, Beck epitomizes the isolationism Texas is leaning towards, but Beck's hunker-down attitude is not what Americans see in the resolute state of Texas.
They see outright, armed revolt.
So we've got to get to the point where tolerance is seen as a sin because we're tolerating a lot stuff that destroys our families, that destroys our own character and we can't tolerate that stuff. We have to get back to the point where hate is a virtue, at least certain kinds of hate. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil and we need to have a hatred of things and get off this fence of having no passion about anything. You know, I tolerate anything, I'm not going to have a passion good or bad, I'm not going to hate anything ... We just can't do that and we've got to get back to that same type of intolerance, that we're going to be intolerant of liberalism. - DAVID BARTON
David Barton has said (ad nauseum) that America is a Christian nation. However, between Barton's lines (as well as lies - as in his book, The Jefferson Lies), it's evident that he has long been an advocate of a Christian ONLY nation. His Dominionism is so obvious it reeks. He also insists that EVERYTHING is mentioned in the Bible (somehow my computer got left out, but there you go). What has been lacking in Barton's ideology - until now - is the means for carrying out his Dominionism.
Let's hate liberalism is an open invitation to hate liberals (i.e. gays, feminists, pro-choice, etc.), but Barton's adherents may be too dense to get it. Let's hope that none of them listen to him and Gary "You-can't be Christian and not own a gun" Cass.
