If This Is Food for Thought, We'd Better Chew

I watched Quentin Tarantino's "Inglorious Basterds" this weekend and I enjoyed it, but I didn't find it to be as cool as most critics think it is. Well, so be it. So the subtitles were hard to read and were important so that was inconvenient, the pacing wasn't as good as I expect from Tarantino, and if you are getting sick of Tarantino's signature film elements you were rolling your eyes quickly.

Frankly, I am not sick of the director's signature moments. From Samuel Jackson's cameo as The Narrator, the uber violence, flashback moments, and even the director's own cameo, I love that stuff. It makes the film an event for folks who know what to look for with out distracting the QT first timer.

And Christoph Waltz was fabulous. Sure, other characters were great fun, but Waltz as Hans Landa, the brutally effective Sicherheitsdienst officer, was dead solid perfect. He has all ready won several awards for this performance and should win many more.

It is Hans Landa who gives us the food for thought. In one of the climactic scenes, Landa has captured two of the Basterds, 1st Lieutenant Aldo Raine and PFC Smithson Utivich. (Raine is played by Brad Pitt in a truly odd and wonderfully off center performance.)

Landa describes two possible outcomes for the evening. The Basterds are trying to blow up a movie theater and everyone in it. When talking about their plan, a plan to kill 350 people including the entire German High Command along with some civilians and doing extensive property damage, Landa describes the plan saying, "some would say this act of terror."

This act of terror.

Here is what we need to chew upon. What constitutes an act of terror? Is it the person who does it? Is a turban or Yemeni passport required to commit an act of terror? Are we as Americans incapable of committing acts of terror against others? (Tim McVey proved we can commit terror against ourselves, such is the horror of terror.) Or is it an act itself which defines terror?

Tarantino is making the case that it is the act, not the actor, where the qualification for terror lies.

Let me just say that when I heard Landa say this, I knew it was going to make me think. What do you say--Can we give Christoph Waltz the Academy Award now?

Now That's Bile!

The Rev. Fred Phelps is at it again. The man who gave the world "godhatesfags.com" is presenting his newest target, Lady Gaga. That's right, now if we believe the good Reverend, God is taking time out of his busy schedule to hate a pop singer.

Can't blame him though, according to Rev. Phelps quoting Jeremiah 3 she has "a whore's forehead and refuses to be ashamed." Well, if that isn't enough reason to hate the woman...

He declares that Lady Gaga hates her fans and at the end of his press release says "You're going to hell." I'm guessing he means the singer, not everyone who downloads the press release.

Just so that the gist of the press release is not lost on the minions of Satan, er, the people of St. Louis, the Westboro Baptist Church will picket her concert at St. Louis' Fox Theater on January 10 from 6:30 to 7:30.

Hey, be there or be square!

I don't know what to say, lest this, We are saved by faith though grace. It will matter not how many shows get picketed, or presidents (he picketed Clinton in Fayetteville in the late 90's), or soldier's funerals.

I dare say that presenting a word of hatred, particularly a prophet of God's hatred, will be not only ineffective, but counter productive to the work of God. Still, if Phelps actions can get people into scripture and into the chruch where they can hear the Word of God's grace and peace through Jesus Christ, even this work can be redeemed.

A God that can use the flawed human words of the Rev. Fred Phelps and of me; now that's the work of a powerful God.

NFLPA cannot pay fine if Ochocinco wears No. 15

The-Artist-Formerly-Known-as-Chad-Johnson, Chad Ocho-Cinco, wants to wear the jersey number of his recently deceased teammate Chris Henry. By calling anyone by the name "The-Artist-Formerly-Known-as-" you can imagine that Mr. Ocho-Cinco has a tendency to occasionally be a spectacle. This would be true.

Well, this Sunday, the Cincinnati Bengals wide-receiver, number 85, wants to wear the number 15. And the National Football League, the NFL, a group often called the "No Fun League" has rules to prevent this and will fine 85 if he goes ahead and wears 15. They've fined him before and they'll do it again.

The player's union, the NFLPA has offered to pay his fine, but that too is against NFL rules. See this link for details: NFLPA cannot pay fine if Ochocinco wears No. 15. (Even though they can't officially pay it, they have offered to match it, paying the same amount to the NFL as Ocho-Cinco's fine.) A gesture in honor of a man who lost his life gets fined because it's against the rules? Shame on the NFL.

What do I say about this? I say let all of the Bengals come out wearing #15 jerseys, every single one of them; and let the opposing team do the same thing; and let everyone in the NFL do the same thing and let go the dogs of NFL fines.

Mr. Henry wasn't always a good guy. It seemed that he was beginning to straighten his life out, though details of his death may show that there were some speed-bumps along his way. But if a man who lives to draw attention to himself wants to draw attention to a recently deceased teammate, I don't care what the NFL says.

Pay the fine? Shoot, let's see the NFL fine the whole league on Chris Henry's behalf and we'll see who seems more mature in the end.

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This Strikes Me as Odd

This morning I was heading into WalMart to get something for our potluck covered dish dinner after worship today. Leaving, I saw this sign on the door:

Extended Hours

Closed December 24-8:00 pm-

December 26-6:00 am

Here's the question, how does a 24 hour WalMart say that closing 34 hours constitutes "extended hours?" The shame is that the answer is easy. In the past, our WalMart closed at 6:00 pm on Christmas Eve. By closing two hours later on Christmas Eve, our WalMart increases the number of hours open this year by 0.39% over last year.

Please add your own snide or surly comment here.

Hold That Tiger!

If you have been under a rock, you may not know that the best golfer in the world, one Eldric Tiger Woods, has been part of a scandal due to his alleged infidelity.

Whoopie Goldberg, host of "The View" and moderator of their Roundtable segment, has said that she will not comment on the Tiger scandal because it "does not put food on her table."

Whoopie, I must disagree. You host a chat show, one that deals with celebrity, moderating the segment that is loaded with scandal and inuendo. Whoopie, I'm sorry but it does put food on your table. If there's another reason you don't want to talk about it, that's fine, but please own the fact that you do get paid to talk about this stuff. If you don't want to talk about Tiger's stuff, please find a better reason.

Carolyn Gaines

Miss Carolyn Gaines of Berryville, Arkansas died shortly after 3:00 pm on Thursday December 3, 2009. She was a child of God, a joy to be around, and an elder in the church. She will be missed.

I met Carolyn at First Presbyterian Church in Conway, Arkansas in June 2005. She came to the meeting of the Arkansas Presbytery where I was examined to become a Minister of Word and sacrament.

It was a wild day for me. Marie and I had just made it into town from central Missouri the day before. I was just getting done with my examination sermon and its bulletin for the meeting. I was so nervous since I was going to be asked questions by not only the committee, but by anyone else who had a question. I successfully navigated the storm, becoming one of the few (if not the only) candidates in the history of the Presbytery who made the assembly laugh during the exam.

Carolyn and her ride had to get going before the end of the meeting. Carolyn had tremendous circulatory problems, and the ride up and down from Berryville to Conway and back that day were causing havoc on her legs. Before they left, I got to say good bye. Carolyn hugged me and said, "I love you, darling." I said, "I love you too."

That was the moment I became a pastor.

Miss you Carolyn. God bless you as you sing and dance for our God.

A Little Story...

Once upon a time, a rabbit was bounding down the path. Suddenly a bear came out of the trees holding a bunch of leaves in its paw. The bear asked the rabbit, "Do you have trouble with poop sticking to your fur?" The rabbit said, "No, why?" So the bear threw the leaves down, picked up the rabbit, and reached back...

I feel a lot like the rabbit right now.