Issue 82

News: Jack T. Chick v. Bart D. Ehrman
As you may know, I am a big fan of Jack T. Chick's insane works. One of them is a tract entitled "The Attack" about the events leading up to the King James Bible's publication. Recently, I also read Bart D. Ehrman's book Misquoting Jesus. In the book, Ehrman recounts the story of how one cannot truly tell what the originals of the Bible are anymore due to there being more derivations from the texts of the New Testament than there are words in it. He mainly writes about the New Testament. The main point of Jack's arguments is that the Catholic church actively tried to destroy the original texts of the Bible in the Textus Receptus (more on this later). I will compare Jack's claims with Ehrman's. Jack begins with a bad start by claiming that Puritans translated the KJV (it was, ironically created to supplant another Bible which supposedly had Puritanical undertones, since King James decided that they were heretics.) In the tract, there were claims that there were corrupt manuscripts in Alexandria, although while there were many manuscripts there, they were not the only ones, because there were many others in Byzantine and the west, although the Alexandian texts are in fact considered the closest to what may have actually happened due to their age being the oldest. Jack claims that St. Jerome used them for the Vulgate, although it is believed that he compared pre-existing translations with whatever Greek manuscripts he could find. Later, he mentions a "Council of Toulouse", where the Bible (presumably the "Textus Receptus") which outside of a few Fundie websites who are most likely either parroting what Jack says or improvising on what Jack says, I have been able to find no information. On this "Textus Receptus", it is claimed by Jack that this was the true word of God that The Church would destroy. The real Textus Receptus was the first publication of a complete edition of the Greek text of the New Testament, cobbled by Desiderius Erasmus from one or two greek manuscripts (and for Revelation, he translated parts of it back into Greek from the Vulgate). Jack claims that as a reaction to the publication of the Textus Receptus, the Church created the Jesuits to destroy all copies. This is, of course, ridiculous. Immediately after this panel, Jack shows the King of England (most likely Henry VIII, even if Jack's portrait looks nothing like him) rebelling against the Church's authority, obstensively due to his distrust of the Pope's authority, but in reality, he rebelled because the Pope wouldn't let him divorce his wife, and so he created his own church (The Church of England, which ironically, now forbids divorce), and after several more decades, the King James Bible was created from the Textus Receptus. Eventually, people resorted to diminishing its credibility with the Alexandrian texts. In the end, Jack admonishes the reader to check 1 John 5:7 to see if it makes the Trinity explicitly mentioned, as a litmus test to see if it is a "true version". Ironically, according to Ehrman, the first edition of the Textus Receptus itself did not contain it (because Erasmus found no manuscript with it), and was widely criticized for this reason. It was instated when a manuscript (created specifically for the occasion) was found with it. This concludes my rant.

Band Name of the Day: The Anglican Fundamentalists. From a routine by Eddie Izzard on "Church of England Fundamentalism".

Film Idea of the Day: A road movie about an early-tewnty-something member of the Illinois State legislature and a political journalism student learning about politics journeying to Springfield to go see the legislature in session, with the former going on his first time, and the student learning from him. A more political Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Review of the Day: It's been a while since I've appraised a television series.
Black Books. A british series about a misanthropic bookstore owner named Bernard Black infamous for his hygeine and rudeness towards customers and his assistant Manny. This has to be the funniest British series I have stumbled upon in a while, even if only two of the three seasons (or series, as the Brits say) are currently on DVD.
Azumanga Daioh. As one can infer from the seemingly incomprehensible title, it is an anime and Manga series. It is, unlike most anime series, set in a Japanese public school, and centered around the personalities of 7 female students and 3 teachers in the school. Even among those who don't normally consider themselves otaku (Japanese for "anime geeks"), it is very funny, if you can get the references to Japanese culture that are explained in the fansubs of the anime and, to a lesser extent, in the manga.

Quote of the Day: "Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. I did an original sin. I poked a badger with a spoon."
"Say five Hail Mary's and six Hello Dolly's!"
__________________Eddie Izzard.

Link of the Day: Type in the words and let the singers (everybody from Bobby Hatfield to Nick Drake to Jim Morrison to Chris Isaak) sing them.

Issue 81

News: An update, a death, and a third thing.
Two issues ago, I posted an article about how a young girl in Ireland was being barred from leaving the country lest she abort her child. It would have been a goner had it not been aborted. Fortunately, since my writing, the girl was finally allowed to travel abroad by the courts. Around this same period of time, I got news of the first notorious member of today's religious right to die: Jerry Falwell. As you may have known, I disagree intensely with his policies and those of many of his kind, but I promise to refrain from turning it into a Schadenfreudefest. I had known for some time that Falwell was in poor health, but I always thought that Billy Graham (with his Parkinson's, his 88 years of age, and prostate cancer, among many other risk factors) would be the first one to kick the bucket. In fact, on NewspeakDictionary, there was a whole discussion thread created about who would be the next televangelist over 67 to go after Falwell: Graham is currently Third out of nine evangelical leaders most likely to be next to kick the bucket (above Oral "Send me $5 million or God will 'Take me Home'" Roberts and Jack T. Chick.)

Band NAme of the Day: The Buttsacks. From the movie The LadyKillers (reviewed below), one member of the team is said to play the sackbut (Trombone). When asked to play for the old lady, he tells Tom Hanks' character "But I don't know how to play the buttsack."

Film idea of the day: Triad. It is a TV series about a man (Ben Johnson) who is having an affair with two very different women: An editor for a famous Chicago-based fashion magazine (Marian Samson) and a bisexual hippie-chick artist (Earth Berkowitz). The catalyst for the events of the show is that Ben asks Marian and Earth to live with him, both at the same time. This is not just an update/homage/rip-off to Three's Company, because it is openly acknowledged in this case that the three protagonists are in a relationship, whereas in Three's Company, it becomes clear that the three protagonists are not in an actual relationship, despite living under the same roof.

Film review of the day: The Ladykillers. I saw the 2004 Coen brothers version earlier this week. In the first part of the film, Tom Hanks' character (a charming and Erudite Southern Gentleman professor) decides to tunnel into a casino from the house of an old lady (who regularly sends money to Bob Jones University, despite her being Black and BJU's infamous racist policies on interracial dating, which had only been repealed 4 years before) and steal $1.6 million dollars while posing as a Classical Music Troupe. This is successful, but she finds out and threatens to turn them in unless they return the money. And then they decide to kill her. SPOILER ALERT (If you don't want to know the ending, go to the quotes section) They all fail killing each other. The old lady is unaware of their new plans and gives all the money to BJU.

Quote of the Day: "And, I know that I'll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way — all of them who have tried to secularize America — I point the finger in their face and say "you helped this happen."
__________Jerry Falwell, two days after 9/11.

Link of the Day: Jerry Falwell's God, inspired by the above quote.

Issue 80

News: Wiccan symbol in vet cemetary.
While scrounging the internet for inspiration for today's blog, I stumbled upon a bit of news via FSTDT.com (linked to in another entry), that said that in addition to the symbols of many Christian denominations and other religions, the symbol of Wicca, the inverted pentagram, has been added to a list of religious symbols that can be placed on a soldier's tombstone. Apparently, there was one soldier whose parents insisted that the symbol of his faith be created so that it may be put on his tombstone. However, the folks at FSTDT whose replies were hilarious enough for the editors to put on their site claimed that it is wrong to put that kind of symbol (Wiccan) in a National Cemetary because they believe that the USA was created on "Christian Principles" (which it wasn't, indeed, a significant number of those people who are counted among our Founding fathers believed, regardless of their beliefs, that religion and government should be kept separate, not least among those was Thomas Jefferson) and that the idea of people wanting the fact that they served our country and maybe even died for it and may not have been Christian is totally repugnant to their ideals and maybe even those of the Founders, especially something as Satanic as Wicca (which does not worship the devil or even revere him in particular, but is basically a revival of Witchcraft). The point is that the USA was not created to suit any particular religion, especially Christianity, but is supposed to tolerate any religion (so long as its tenets do not entail harm to others), so just because many people in the country were deeply religious for many years, this does not mean that this is a "Christian nation" because it isn't.

Band Name of the Day: Graham and the Canyons.

Film Idea of the Day: Catch the Wind. A young teenaged girl named Amanda Marinus grapples with her faith and her sexuality in her Lutheran High School.

Film Review of the Day: The Hannibal Lecter trilogy.
I recently decided to get into the works of Thomas Harris, creator of Hannibal Lecter and reclusive author and I saw film versions of the first three books in the series (the new one, Hannibal Rising, I have yet to see, but I wouldn't be surprised if it didn't turn out as good as the others in the series did.)
Red Dragon. This was the first novel in the series, but the third to be filmed with Anthony Hopkins as Lecter, although it was filmed before under another title, with several names changed slightly. In the film, Lecter helps FBI profiler Will Graham catch a serial killer obsessed with a William Blake watercolor of a red dragon to the point where he believes that the dragon lives inside of him, killing people. This is widely considered to be the weakest film in the trilogy, and I agree with the consensus.
Silence of the Lambs. This is the one that most people credit with introducing them to Lecter, with Anthony Hopkins performing him for the first time. This film managed to win many Oscars, and effectively takes the place of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas as the best film I've seen in a long time. This time, Hannibal consults a new Special Agent in a case involving a transsexual serial killer nicknamed Buffalo Bill, who in a disturbing scene, dances around half-naked to the song "Goodbye Horses" by Q Lazzarus (Don't be surprised if you don't know them).
Hannibal. This was the third novel in the series, and it shows Hannibal in a more overtly violent light than before (since, while it is common knowledge in the film series that he is a cannibal, this is the first time he is actually seen killing one of his victims in course of the movie) and giving him more screen time than in the other two films combined, as is befitting a film where he is actually given the title role. Here Hannibal tries to get back into contact with Starling and tries to survive the revenge of the only person to ever survive an attack by him. The endings of the book and novel are very different, but I will give no spoilers.

Quote of the Day: "It's all right. I have immunity from the US Attorney. And I have immunity... from the risen Jesus. And nobody beats the Riz."
________MAson Verger.

Link of the Day: The new site for the J.C. Webster transcripts.

Issue 79

News: Now I have a better story.
After scouring the Newspeak Dictionary forums for inspiration, I have finally discovered a new news story worth commenting on. In Ireland there is a seventeen-year-old girl (Four months into term, known only as "Miss D") who is pregnant with a child with Anencephaly, (which is basically a big word for "your baby will be born blind, deaf, and unconscious, and will not be able to live outside the womb"). As I am sure the readers may have been able to know by this point, Ireland is deeply Catholic and do not allow abortions unless the mother will otherwise die. Of course, one can assume that she can just travel somewhere else to have it taken care of, but, disturbingly, this is not the case. Before she had the chance to go to the UK to abort, the Health Service Executive issued a court order that actually banned her from leaving the country unless she poses a suicide risk, with the police force asked to enforce the order. She is currently fighting the court order so that she may be allowed to leave the country to terminate her pregnancy. I can understand the fact that a country is so wrapped up in religion that it feels the need to ban an abortion even when it is a foregone conclusion that the fetus cannot survive leaving the womb, even though I disagree intensely with their decision. However, I cannot understand forcing her to stay in the country so she can't take care of it elsewhere. Refusing a person the right to leave the country is something that is unacceptable because it shows too much control over an individual by the state. I actually posed this to my ethics teacher (a devout catholic who insists that abortion causes cancer) and he said this was justified because they were helping save a life even if it would only be for at the very most, for 5 months.

Band Name of the Day: The Fighting The.

Film Idea of the Day: Catch the Wind. A teenaged girl in a Lutheran High School experiences a crisis of faith after taking a class that promises to read the entire Bible over the school year. At the same time, she discovers her homosexuality through a friendship with another student who was almost seduced by a teacher with a fixation on high school aged girls.

Film Review of the Day: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. This film covers Raoul Duke and Dr. Gonzo covering a motorcycle race and doing insane amounts of drugs. This must be one of the best films I have seen in a while, certainly since I saw A Clockwork Orange over five months ago.

Quote of the Day: "My own feeling in the matter is due to my very firm conviction that to put such a motto on coins, or to use it in any kindred manner, not only does no good but does positive harm, and is in effect irreverence, which comes dangerously close to sacrilege"
_________Theodore Roosevelt.

Link of the Day: Normally, I don't watch The West Wing, but here, I'll make an exception.

New Tract: Fairy Tales. A young boy discovers that the fairy tales his parents brought him up (including God and Jesus) on were true and so he kills a few other young boys. Another inmate attempts to save him and he fails, thus damning him to hell when he is executed. This may be the most insane tract he has done in a while, maybe even since he did Lisa in 1984.