On the sage and sober remarks (ahem) by the self-proclaimed arbiter of Faith and Values, the most-self-esteemed Reverend Jerry Falwell, about NOW standing for "National Organization of Witches," Flea ponders:

This, sadly, is what passes for wit in those circles. They've been calling feminists "witches" for literally twenty years, possibly more. I think more. I think second wave feminist icon (and one of my heroes) Robin Morgan started a group called WITCH in response to it, where they ran around and did Abbie Hoffman-esque stunts like casting a spell on the New York Stock Exchange to shut it down at the beginning of the day. When the Wall Streeters tried to open the doors, they found that they could not. The WITCHes took full credit for their spell working, of course, and they were indeed responsible, as they had superglued the locks shut the night before.

So feminists haven't taken the accusations of witchcraft seriously, ever. So why does the religious right persist when we so clearly are amused by it?

Not to strike a serious note to a whimsical post, but I think the reason is that people believe it! They really do!

Here we just had an election where a huge percentage of people told exit pollers (and other pollsters over the weeks leading up to the election) that the only place to get "truth" on the airwaves is from people like Rush Limbaugh and friends to his right. There are people who don't believe there are casualties in Iraq. There are people who are convinced Saddam Hussein was preparing to invade West Virginia. Let's face it, there are a lot of chuckleheads in this world!

Note there aren't any really powerful women's voices in that brand of dittohead chorus. No, these are boys marking their territory -- us. (Yes, that's what you've been smelling.)

Also note the thinly veiled (and, as noted above, completely unveiled) misogyny coming from many of those folks. Look at how they attack Hilary and Barbara and Barbra and, really, any woman who attempts to empower herself and claim sovereignty over her own life.

Preaching hate and intolerance in the name of Jesus is just frosting on the cake. There's something else going on underneath, in those tightie whities, and we're the ones having to deal with the stains.

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