Hopefully This Means He’ll Get Swallowed By A Whale

That’s a paraphrase of a comment to this post about what this blogger calls “Sackclothapalooza.”

I don’t live in Birmingham anymore, but I just had to post about B’ham Mayor Larry Langford’s Book of Jonah inspired rally against crime:

More than 1,000 people gathered at Boutwell Auditorium Friday night, wearing burlap sacks, their foreheads dabbed with ashes, to observe what was proclaimed by Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford as “a day of prayer in sackcloth and ashes.”

The night featured collective prayers for forgiveness and fiery sermons calling for the city to repent in order to stop the violence plaguing the city.

“Let there be so misunderstanding: Satan is at work in this town,” Langford said. “And It is time to pray.”

Figuring out exactly what is most astounding about this will be quite a challenge, but here goes.

It could be the announcement, which stated in part (read it all here, if you dare):

The City of Birmingham Like the City of Ninevah has experienced violence and murder that pails in comparison to the City of Ninevah in the Old Testament, Book of Jonah; and has become the fourth violent city per capital in the United States of America; and . . .

Many residents of the City of Birmingham, like Jonah, who turned his back on Ninevah, the citizens of the City of Birmingham have not only turned their backs on God but also turned their backs on the freedoms that were won by and through the civil rights struggle; and . . .

Never mind the punctuation and misused words, try to figure out exactly what this thing even says: “like the City of Nineveh has experience violence and murder that pails [heh heh] in comparison to the City of Nineveh.” What does that mean? “Nineveh has buckets of Nineveh?” Unreal. And that was written by the mayor! Good heavens, I would not trust someone that ignorant to mow my yard, and this guy is running a major city. I teach middle school. I tell my kids they need to learn how to write well, because writing is an essential part of just about any kind of career. So much for that incentive.

The worst part of the story could also be the outrageous blending of church and state. This was all done on city time and probably paid for with city funds. I don’t care what test you apply, this is bad. If you aren’t bothered by it, just ask yourself how you’d feel if it was a kneel-toward-Mecca-rally paid for by your tax dollars.

It could also be the whole idea of shrugging off onto God something that is Larry Langford’s job.

Or it could be the amazing pictures, demonstrating that Larry did not even understand the tradition he was trying to follow.

It could be that Larry Langford is currently being sued by the SEC, and is a big part of the reason Jefferson County, Alabama is facing bankrupcy.

But I think the most amazing part of the whole story is that Larry Langford will be elected to a second term as mayor of B’ham. But not in spite of things like Sackclothapalooza. No, it will be because of things like Sackclothapalooza. That, folks, is truly a reason for things like wailing and gnashing of teeth.

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