April 14, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Malaysia: Writing - Malaysia: Humor: Election2006 - Friedman: VOA: Kinky Friedman Enters Texas Governor's Race: Friedman says Texans love a rebel and an underdog, and he is convinced he'll surprise everyone next year.

Peace Corps Online: Directory: Malaysia: Special Report: Author, Humorist and Malaysia RPCV Kinky Friedman: February 9, 2005: Index: PCOL Exclusive: RPCV Kinky Friedman (Malaysia) : April 14, 2005: Headlines: Figures: COS - Malaysia: Writing - Malaysia: Humor: Election2006 - Friedman: VOA: Kinky Friedman Enters Texas Governor's Race: Friedman says Texans love a rebel and an underdog, and he is convinced he'll surprise everyone next year.

By Admin1 (admin) (pool-151-196-181-108.balt.east.verizon.net - 151.196.181.108) on Sunday, April 17, 2005 - 6:53 pm: Edit Post

Kinky Friedman Enters Texas Governor's Race: Friedman says Texans love a rebel and an underdog, and he is convinced he'll surprise everyone next year.

Kinky Friedman Enters Texas Governor's Race: Friedman says Texans love a rebel and an underdog, and he is convinced he'll surprise everyone next year.

Kinky Friedman Enters Texas Governor's Race: Friedman says Texans love a rebel and an underdog, and he is convinced he'll surprise everyone next year.

Kinky Friedman Enters Texas Governor's Race
By Nancy Beardsley
Washington DC
13 April 2005

Country singer and aspiring Texas governor Kinky Friedman

Kinky Friedman

If Minnesota can elect a former wrestler as state governor, and California a movie star action hero, then why can't a country music singer find similar political success in Texas? Entertainer Kinky Friedman hopes to follow in the footsteps of Jesse Ventura and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and win his state's highest elective office in next year's election. And while he has earned a reputation for irreverent humor over the years, the independent candidate has a lot of serious ideas about how and why he wants to change things in Texas.

'Ten Little New Yorkers' is the new mystery book by country singer and aspiring Texas governor Kinky Friedman

You could say Kinky Friedman brings two solid bases of voter support to his campaign for governor. The first is the cult following he started building in the 1970s as a self-styled Texas Jewish country singer. More recently, he's won yet another group of fans as a mystery writer, penning novels about an amateur detective named Kinky Friedman, who's been transplanted from Texas to New York. But he's just published what he says will be the last book in the series, Ten Little New Yorkers, and he believes literature's loss will be politics' gain.

"This is my 17th mystery, far more than I ever thought I would write," he says." And having to come up with the corpse in the library and the usual suspects gets very tedious. And I think the last governor's race irritated me. The two candidates spent over $100 million dollars just for negative campaign ads for a job that pays only a $100,000 dollars. The Democrats came up with a good idea--the Republicans shot it down. And I think running as an independent will be a very unusual thing to do, since it hasn't been done since 1859 when Sam Houston ran as an independent. It's a long time between dreams."

If Sam Houston dreamed of freeing Texas from Mexican rule, Kinky Friedman's dreams are about moving his state in a new direction. "Texas is first in executions and 49th in funding public education," he notes. "We're in a race for the bottom with Mississippi, and we're winning. So I think I can do better."

Kinky Friedman is no stranger to social causes. He once served as a Peace Corps volunteer, and he now runs an animal rescue ranch. His songs often deal with prejudice, hypocrisy and narrow-mindedness, and they have been called as thought-provoking as they are outrageous. Don't expect him to stop being funny just because he's running for public office. "Humor is the weapon I use to attack the windmill of politics as usual," says Candidate Friedman. "And that's the windmill I'm going to knock down."

Like any good politician-or "un-politician" as he prefers to be called--Kinky Friedman has a campaign web site, caps and T-shirts for sale, and a platform with something to appeal to liberals and conservatives alike. While he is Jewish by birth, he describes himself as Judeo Christian in spirit, and he's all for prayer in public schools. "I think there's nothing wrong with a kid believing in something," he declares. "I'm embarrassed that people are embarrassed to say 'Merry Christmas.' Especially to me--people will say, 'Merry Christmas, Kinky! Oh, I'm sorry, you're Jewish. I didn't realize. I shouldn't have said that.' Ridiculous."

And while Kinky Friedman says he is not against the death penalty, he believes it is handed out too freely in Texas. "All we have is eject or inject," he says. "We don't have life without the possibility of parole, and some innocent people--one of them, Max Soffar, who's been on death row 23 years, is now getting a new trial. Now it's a crime enough to railroad somebody to death row, but it's really a crime to let them rot there for 23 years in solitary when you know there's no evidence against them."

Kinky Friedman needs to get 50,000 signatures in a petition drive to qualify for the 2006 governor's race. He says public response has been great so far. He is even getting help from another famous Texas country singer, Willy Nelson, whom he describes as his "energy adviser."

"He's promoting bio-diesel, which is going to be a very big thing," says the would-be governor. "It's vegetable oil. It's 80 cents cheaper per gallon than regular gas, and in ten years gas will be a dollar a drop. I think Texans are literally drooling for something new. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he was going to get rid of the career politicians in California and he did, and I want to do the same thing in Texas. And after that I want to get rid of the Californians in Texas."

Kinky Friedman says he can identify with a politician like Arnold Schwarzenegger. "I think everybody in Texas does," he adds. "I think we all see in this day and age that a politician who's been around forever is a bad thing. A musician would be better. A state run by musicians would be excellent. I have only two political connections. I'm the only man who's slept in the White House under two Presidents-Bill Clinton and George W. (Bush)."

While Kinky Friedman claims both Presidents Clinton and Bush as fans, he says he has no other political ties, and he does not want any. "I want to find that place that's above politics and take us there," he says. "Besides, I need the closet space."

More clues about why Kinky Friedman wants to move into that spacious governor's mansion in Austin can be found in the plot of his final mystery, Ten Little New Yorkers. His hero is tired of the big city, ready to get back to his Texas roots and start a new chapter in life. As for his prospects of doing that, Kinky Friedman says Texans love a rebel and an underdog, and he is convinced he'll surprise everyone next year.





When this story was posted in April 2005, this was on the front page of PCOL:


Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
The Peace Corps Library Date: March 27 2005 No: 536 The Peace Corps Library
Peace Corps Online is proud to announce that the Peace Corps Library is now available online. With over 30,000 index entries in 500 categories, this is the largest collection of Peace Corps related stories in the world. From Acting to Zucchini, you can find hundreds of stories about what RPCVs with your same interests or from your Country of Service are doing today. If you have a web site, support the "Peace Corps Library" and link to it today.

Top Stories and Breaking News PCOL Magazine Peace Corps Library RPCV Directory Sign Up

RPCVs and Friends remember Pope John Paul II Date: April 3 2005 No: 550 RPCVs and Friends remember Pope John Paul II
Tony Hall found the pope to be courageous and capable of forgiving the man who shot him in 1981, Mark Gearan said the pope was as dynamic in person as he appears on television, Maria Shriver said he was a beacon of virtue, strength and goodness, and an RPCV who met the pope while serving in the Solomon Islands said he possessed the holiness of a man filled with a deep love and concern for humanity. Leave your thoughts here.

Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000  strong Date: April 2 2005 No: 543 Friends of the Peace Corps 170,000 strong
170,000 is a very special number for the RPCV community - it's the number of Volunteers who have served in the Peace Corps since 1961. It's also a number that is very special to us because March is the first month since our founding in January, 2001 that our readership has exceeded 170,000. And while we know that not everyone who comes to this site is an RPCV, they are all "Friends of the Peace Corps." Thanks everybody for making PCOL your source of news for the Returned Volunteer community.

April 10, 2005: This Week's Top Stories Date: April 10 2005 No: 555 April 10, 2005: This Week's Top Stories
The Coyne Column: "Why do you study Jesuits?" 10 Apr
Al Kamen says Condi Rice is Baffled 8 Apr
Chris Dodd makes "sneak attack" on AgustaWestland 7 Apr
Accused attacker maintains innocence 7 Apr
Jim Walsh supports Sinn Féin declaration 7 Apr
Crisis Corps team in Thailand begins work 6 Apr
Tom Weisner wins big in Aurora Mayor's Race 6 Apr
BBDO wins EFFIE Ad Awards for "Life is Calling" 6 Apr
PCVs removed after missionaries killed in Guyana 5 Apr
Chris Matthews covers death of Pope John Paul II 5 Apr
24 Congressmen sign Peace Corps letter 4 Apr
Update: PCVs in Kyrgyzstan back in communities 4 Apr
Tom Murphy lays into Bush administration 4 Apr
Bellamy urges legislators to protect children 4 Apr
Lynn Olson manages art gallery after judgeship 4 Apr
Bob Taft promotes tax code overhaul in Ohio 3 Apr
Richard Kaminski lost in village in Botswana 3 Apr

April 10, 2005: Events around the Country Date: April 10 2005 No: 552 April 10, 2005: Events around the Country
North Carolina RPCV discusses Nepal trek on April 14 6 Apr
South Carolina RPCVs to see off PCVs on April 18 5 Apr
Gaddi Vasquez speaks at Northwestern University 6 Apr
Henry McKoy speaks at Clemson University 8 Apr
Minnesota RPCVs need Photos for Exhibition 24 Mar
Maryland RPCVs eat crab cakes in Annapolis 17 Mar
RPCVs: Post your stories or press releases here for inclusion next week.

April Feature Stories - only on PCOL Date: April 10 2005 No: 553 April Feature Stories - only on PCOL
Dream Come True - Revisiting India after 34 years
The Coyne Column: Read Winning Vanity Fair PCV Essay
Tomas Belsky's paintings inspired by service in Brazil
RPCV reunites with friend after 40 years
RPCV reviews "Los Heraldos Negros" by Cesar Vallejo
Photo Essay: Taking it to the Streets

Crisis Corps arrives in Thailand Date: March 20 2005 No: 530 Crisis Corps arrives in Thailand
After the Tsunami in Southeast Asia last December, Peace Corps issued an appeal for Crisis Corps Volunteers and over 200 RPCVs responded. The first team of 8 Crisis Corps volunteers departed for Thailand on March 18 to join RPCVs who are already supporting relief efforts in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and India with other agencies and NGO's.

RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC Date: March 5 2005 No: 482 RPCVs in Congress ask colleagues to support PC
RPCVs Sam Farr, Chris Shays, Thomas Petri, James Walsh, and Mike Honda have asked their colleagues in Congress to add their names to a letter they have written to the House Foreign Operations Subcommittee, asking for full funding of $345 M for the Peace Corps in 2006. As a follow-on to Peace Corps week, please read the letter and call your Representative in Congress and ask him or her to add their name to the letter.

Add your info now to the RPCV Directory Date: March 13 2005 No: 489 Add your info now to the RPCV Directory
Call Harris Publishing at 800-414-4608 right away to add your name or make changes to your listing in the newest edition of the NPCA's Directory of Peace Corps Volunteers and Former Staff. Then read our story on how you can get access to the book after it is published. The deadline for inclusion is May 16 so call now.

March 1: National Day of Action Date: February 28 2005 No: 471 March 1: National Day of Action
Tuesday, March 1, is the NPCA's National Day of Action. Please call your Senators and ask them to support the President's proposed $27 Million budget increase for the Peace Corps for FY2006 and ask them to oppose the elimination of Perkins loans that benefit Peace Corps volunteers from low-income backgrounds. Follow this link for step-by-step information on how to make your calls. Then take our poll and leave feedback on how the calls went.


Read the stories and leave your comments.






Some postings on Peace Corps Online are provided to the individual members of this group without permission of the copyright owner for the non-profit purposes of criticism, comment, education, scholarship, and research under the "Fair Use" provisions of U.S. Government copyright laws and they may not be distributed further without permission of the copyright owner. Peace Corps Online does not vouch for the accuracy of the content of the postings, which is the sole responsibility of the copyright holder.

Story Source: VOA

This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; Figures; COS - Malaysia; Writing - Malaysia; Humor; Election2006 - Friedman

PCOL19828
42

.


Add a Message


This is a public posting area. Enter your username and password if you have an account. Otherwise, enter your full name as your username and leave the password blank. Your e-mail address is optional.
Username:  
Password:
E-mail: