Walmart incurs the wrath of the fundies over liquor in the Bible Belt

"This is an unprecedented attack against the family. We are going to fight this tooth and nail...I think Sam Walton, being the family-oriented man he was, would be rolling over in his grave about this. I’m really disappointed in Wal-Mart as a company."
-- the Rev. Ronnie L. Frankens, pastor of Homer Pentecostal Church in Diboll, TX, to cries of "amen" and "praise Jesus."

Walmart unhinges the bible thumpers yet again, as the retail giant uses its muscle to turn dry counties into wet ones. Expect the press releases to fly soon from the AFA, Focus on the Anus and the rest of those folks over big box distribution of beer and wine. (NYT):

Wal-Mart, based in a dry county in Arkansas, forbids drinking at events held at corporate headquarters. But the giant retailer has made a push in the last year to sell more liquor, along with beer and wine, in its stores.

Attempts by Wal-Mart and others to allow alcohol sales in other places that remain dry — 415 counties in the South and in Kansas still prohibit such sales — are meeting fierce resistance from some church groups and religious leaders. They argue that returning to the days when liquor flowed will mean more family violence, under-age drinking, drunken driving and a general moral decay in the community.

But voters are increasingly likely to follow their pocketbooks rather than the words of their pastors. Alcohol proponents often make the case that liberalizing laws will increase tax revenue and reduce the need for property tax increases, an issue looming large in voters’ minds.

More dry-to-wet measures have passed than have been defeated in the last four years in Texas, Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee and Kansas, the states where the battles are concentrated. “The communities who effectively make arguments about economic development and tax dollars typically win the votes,” said John Hatch, a political strategist based in Austin, Tex.

These fundies doth protest too much (after all, they are consuming an awful lot of porn; should Walmart or Sam's stock that?). Any of these dry counties have a whole lot of drinking going on. As if these residents aren't already driving to bordering counties to booze it up.