Here we go.\u00a0 According to the Asheville Citizen-Times today:<\/p>\n
“Mayor Terry Bellamy is fasting and praying for a solution to the city\u2019s budget woes and asking her friends to join her.\u00a0 She asked friends on her Facebook page today to fast and pray for 24 days<\/em> [emphasis mine]. She said in an interview that the timeframe doesn\u2019t have any religious significance.\u00a0 The mayor is suggesting a limited diet as a fasting plan.”<\/p>\n I don’t know what religious tradition our mayor follows, but it sounds very much like what Christian Assemblies International<\/a> recommends: “A blessed progress will develop in the Assembly of God depending on how much the Christians pray and fast!”<\/p>\n It does seem that 24\u00a0days is a popular fasting duration — the best-known 24-day fast is the 1972 “fast for justice<\/a>” by Cesar Chavez.\u00a0 Maybe Ms. Bellamy is emulating Mr. Chavez.\u00a0 Except that the “limited diet” then enjoyed by Mr. Chavez consisted only of water.<\/p>\n “The city faces a nearly $6 million budget gap it blames on a raft of Republican legislation aimed at taking away fees and revenue. City leaders have said they might close popular amenities like the WNC Nature Center and all city pools and athletics.”\u00a0 So, just as with Mr. Chavez, this is about lettuce.<\/p>\n Ms. Bellamy is a Democrat.\u00a0 Her action gives Democratic leadership a bad name.\u00a0 Rather than do something about the problem, our fast-and-pray mayor instead makes a show of what she is not<\/em> doing — (a) eating normally and (b) talking to someone who might help.\u00a0 I\u00a0am not impressed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here we go.\u00a0 According to the Asheville Citizen-Times today: “Mayor Terry Bellamy is fasting and praying for a solution to the city\u2019s budget woes and asking her friends to join her.\u00a0 She asked friends on her Facebook page today to … Continue reading