Wondertrash®

Moral Majority Leader, and anti rock crusader, Rev. Jerry Falwell , is dead at 73. Jerry's the one who warned us of the dangers of backward masking, on heavy metal albums, back in the 80's. In fairness, Al Gore's wife, Tipper, was quick to pick up that ball and run with it.

Jerry also claims to be the one that got Ronald Reagan elected President. That's not all he did, either. The 80's were a very busy decade for Pastor Falwell.

Most notably, he became embroiled in the PTL "Tammygate" fiasco. Rev. Jim Baker, and his overdone wife, the diminutive Tammy Faye, (I've omitted the Dr. in Rev. Baker's name. Most high profile evangelicals have it, and prefer it to Rev. It gives them 'academic credibility', although their degree's are usually honourary, and from Southern Baptist Bible Colleges, where they still teach that the Earth is flat!) were still at the helm of a multi million dollar fundamentalist empire. Though the IRS had an open file on them for years, the case wasn't pursued. The Baker's were protected by "the man upstairs", their very good friend, Pres. Ronald Reagan.

In '88, Bush the Elder was elected. He felt that these pushy little preachers were getting to big for their britches. So the PTL case became active, and the IRS swooped down upon them with a vengeance! Soon PTL's many financial improprieties became public knowledge.

For instance, PTL had opened a "Christian amusement park", called Heritage USA. Now that's tacky, but the way they went about financing it was illegal! They allowed PTL members to become 'partners' , and invest in the scheme. The only problem was that they sold more than 100% of their shares. In fact they oversold by 3 or 4 times! When they weren't multiple selling shares, Tammy Faye was dropping a bundle on Este Lauder make up (her favourite, and used very liberally!), trashy jewelery, and air conditioned dog houses for Tammy's pet pooch (that's a minor exaggeration. Tammy only had one air conditioned dog house). Jimmy kept busy chasing young ladies, such as PTL worker Jessica Hahn, who was later featured in Playboy magazine!

About this time religious rival Jimmy Swaggart entered the fray. Swaggart was a puffy faced, beady eyed, bull-necked Pentecostal. A cousin of infamous rockabilly pianist Jerry Lee Lewis (the one who married his 13 yr old cousin. Great Balls of Fire!), Jimmy originally played with cousin Jerry, but got kicked out of the band for being 'too rowdy'. That left Swaggart with no honest way to make a living, so he took to preachin'.

Swaggart said that the Bakers had gone too far, and made a play for control of the PTL empire. However Pastor Swaggart's own peccadillo's were soon to come to light. Rev. Dr. Jimmy was linked with a New Orleans prostitute named Debra Murphee. She said that Swaggart was 'a regular', and described him as 'cheap and quick'. Time is money, they say. What's more, she also claimed that Swaggart had expressed a 'professional interest' in her 13 yr old daughter! Though Jimmy did a melodramatic TV mea culpa to his viewers, his goose was cooked.

Jerry Falwell was called in to sort out the mess. He took over the beleaguered PTL Ministries, in what was generally perceived as a "Dynasty style" hostile take over. With in few years Bush was out of office, and the religious right was completely discredited.

Swaggart continued to drift in and out of the public eye. His fondness for porn, prostitutes, and drunken driving got him into the news periodically. Jimmy Baker served 5 years of a 45 year federal prison term. Both he and then ex wife Tammy Faye became Larry King regulars. Falwell, however, almost completely dropped out of the public eye. That is except for occasional utterances on family values - he supports Dan Quayle, not Murphy Brown, and global warming - which is caused by the devil, not pollution ( he also thought that Teletubby Tinky Winky - the purple one with the purse, was a pawn of the media's 'gay agenda'). His passing couldn't have come at a worse time for the religious right. An election is only a few moths away, and Pastor Falwell's passing is already dredging up the embarrassing past. Will Jerry Falwell once again influence the out come of an American Presidential election?

Wondertrash though for the day:

"It's not the pollution that's harming our environment- it's the impurities in our air and water that's harming the environment"
- Dan Quayle