Random Thoughts

The controversy of The Da Vinci Code got me to thinking of the Left Behind movie of a few years back. If they are banning and boycotting The Da Vinci Code around the world for it's controversial religious content and accusing Dan Brown and Ron Howard of pawning it off as truth, why didn't people do the same with those atrocious movies made of the Left Behind series? Making a movie based on Rapture sci-fi that evangelical Christians just eat up would be reason enough for a protest. But wait ... there's more. They starred evangelist-in-the-making and former teenage hearthrob, Kirk Cameron. I think I'm going to be sick. I love this review of the first Left Behind movie by Washington Post's Desson Howe: "...a blundering cringefest, thanks to unintentionally laughable dialogue, hackneyed writing and uninspired direction. The more this movie tries, the worse it gets. Its sincerity ends up becoming a bulging bull's-eye for rotten-tomato throwers." Classic. Please explain to me how Left Behind is any better than L. Ron Hubbard's Battlefield Earth?

I guess people have protested in their own way ... by not going to see them. Unfortunately, these movies continue to be made. They've even invited a parody on the Simpson's: Thank God It's Doomsday


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Here's my vote for who should run in '08

Stewart/Colbert '08

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A lot was made of the multiple guilty verdict counts in the Enron trial of Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. For good reason. But what was missed (and what is always missed by the mainstream media) is who is not mentioned ... Dubya. From Mother Jones and Digby:

[T]he reality, as established by a wealth of historical record and recent disclosures, is that Lay and Enron were instrumental in Bush’s rise to power – and Bush played an important behind-the-scenes role in advancing Enron’s aggressive deregulation agenda, which helped the energy trader ascend to its lofty perch as the seventh-biggest U.S. company.

The Bush-Lay coziness earned the Enron chief a nickname from Bush as "Kenny Boy." But more importantly for Enron, Bush pitched in as governor and president whenever the energy trader wanted easier regulations within the U.S. or to have U.S. taxpayers foot the bill for loan guarantees or risk insurance for Enron's overseas ventures.

Imagine if this relationship had involved Clinton instead of Bush. It would have been Kenneth Starr's wet dream. But it didn't and instead we hear a deafening silence. Good job media. Where are the original Woodward and Bernstein when you need them? Even Bob Woodward has forgotten them.

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From local AZ blogger friend Vern's Blog: