Just finished watching the director’s cut of Donnie Darko. It was good the first time around and even better as a director’s cut. Go check it out post-haste.

Just got back from V for Vendetta… What a GREAT MOVIE! The Wachowski brothers are back in a huge way with this film. I really don’t want to get into anything that might spoil this, because unlike most of the obscure movies I’ve posted about so far, you’re actually very likely to go see this film. That being said you probably already know that this is a “political action movie” about a distopian future in England that draws considerably from current events.

Okay, I can’t help it, I need to talk specifics (spoiler alert - do not read further until you’ve seen the film). The scene in the film where the Evey overcomes fear, even the fear of death is the moment at which she truly gains her freedom. Freedom is not something “given” or “protected” by governments, but simply IS. It is in our misunderstanding of freedom as a commodity or as “security” that we enslave ourselves to those who say they can protect us. This shows up several times in the film in the phrase “for your protection” plastered all over government vehicles and buildings. The public in the film, do not see themselves as living in the midst of tyranny. They are a technologically savvy and wealthy people who are living in a dictatorship but are blind to their situation because they are afraid of terrorists, disease, etc. and think the government is doing everything it can to protect them. Sound familiar?

One of the best books I’ve read, Torture and Eucharist (as well as Media Control), deals with the use of torture and kidnapping (in the Case of 1970’s Chile) or fearmongering and propaganda (in the United States as seen in Media Control) as a means of making people submit to the will of a government. These tactics are very effective at splitting up groups of resistance. In Chile any groups that would stand to oppose the dictator, Pinochet, would be the target of kidnappings and torture. These groups of resistance quickly dried up. But as T&E author, Bill Cavanaugh shows, the Church would not simply go away in the face of such atrocities. The Church is comprised of a group of people, who when they really think about it gather together because of one who has defeated death, Jesus Christ. The Church is the body of people attached to Jesus, and who do not fear death. Noam Chomsky observes that, “there are institutions which it has as yet been impossible to destroy. The churches, for example, still exist. A large part of the dissident activity in the United States comes out of the churches. (p. 32)” So why don’t more Christians approach life like the Evey that emerges from the false cell? Why are we just as scared and afraid as the average American? Why do Christians think they need “protection” from terrorism and disease and care deeply about “national security?” I wish we could take some steps towards “letting go” of our fears and indeed our lives. Perhaps the world is still a sick place because we Christians are too afraid to die to get involved in opposing those who oppress.

Thank God for Christian Peacemaker Teams, who show us what this fearless Christian life could really be like.

“People should not be afraid of their governments, governments should be afraid of their people.”

When I went with Kaz, Kara and Jeff to see Capote a few weeks ago at our local art-house theater here in Kansas City I saw a preview for a new documentary about the American war machine titled Why We Fight. I’ve been waiting somewhat impatiently to see it ever since. Lukily Kansas City is somewhat of a hub in the MidWest for art and dissenters alike so even though it took a while Why We Fight is actually playing in two theaters in the area, one in Olathe, KS of all places! Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki uses President Eisenhower’s farewell address to the American people as the frame for the film. Eisenhower, a WWII general turned US President used his last public address as the President of the United States to warn the American people about the gravest danger that we as a nation faced… the expansion of the Military-Industrial Complex.

Even though Eisenhower was a proud WWII general he spent his time as President of the United States trying to reign in the growing power and military might that the United States was building up. Eisenhower had a keen sense that every dollar spent on “defense” and destruction meant that money would be taken away from education, health care and help for the homeless. In one speech Eisenhower actually details how many schools, hospitals, homeless shelters, etc. could be bought with the money spent on a bomber plane. Eisenhower appaerntly saw the growing militarism of the United States as the greatest threat to our way of life. He feared that the “defense” industry would become so ingrained in our economy that America would become addicted to the economy of warmaking. He tried in his eight years in office to keep a tight reign on this and reduce “defense” spending, but even the President of the United States he found out, could not hold back growing militarism. He was espeically worried about what would happen when a President was in power that didn’t understand the military and war as intimately as he did… prophetic.

Why We Fight tells the story of the continaual militarization of the United States, while taking a closer look at several personal stories. Throughout the film we follow two Air Force F-117 pilots and their mission that began the Iraq War in March of 2003. We are also introduced to a retired NY Cop whose son died in the attacks on the Trade Center in 2001. We see his bloodlust and depression, and eventually his betrayal by the President he put his trust in. We also follow the story of William Soloman a 23 year old kid down on his luck and with no direction after his mother’s death as he enlists in the Army to “instantly solve all his problems.”

While I thought that Farenheight 9/11 was a timely film and brought up a lot of issues that needed to be discussed. I also can see that Moore probably just galvanized each side with his anti-Bush thesis and decidedly partisan treatment of 9/11. Why We Fight goes beyond an anti-Republican agenda and asks the very basic question, why do we fight? What are we fighting for? It debunks the fluffy answer given by the Administration and echoed by their supporters that we fight for “freedom.” As if dropping bombs in Iraq somehow gives women in Mississippi the right to vote. The film takes a much closer look at the money congress continually spends on “defense,” especially how the large war corporations like Lockheed, Boeing, etc. make sure that when they win a large bid to build a new weapon or plane for the US Military that the weapon/plane has parts of it built in every state in the Union. With this kind of pressure, even liberal democrats are pro-”defense” spending because it means jobs in their home districts.

The film also tackles what is an often overlooked facet of the Industrial-Military Complex today, the think tanks, especially the neo-conservative think tanks who run Bush’s cabinet. This film is chilling and disturbing, but absolutely necessary for any citizen who wants to be informed rather than turn a blind eye to the growing militarism and imperialism of the United States (or the New Rome as the neo-cons unashamedly call it).

Something wonderful. [updated, new link works now!]

Something awful.

Greetings fellow sinner,
today marks the beginning of Lent. This is the second year that I’ve had the privelage of presiding over our Church’s Ash Wednesday’s imposition of Ashes. Last year was a first for our church so we got our ashes off the internet but we had made the necessary preperations this year, burning last year’s Palm Sunday branches and mixing the ashes with Olive Oil. We met at 6am in a local Cemetery while the sun began to rise. Along with the traditional scriptures I read a great piece from Stuart Malloy. Check it out here.