Pat Hingle has passed away

When 1989's Batman was hitting theaters, Pat Hingle - who played Commissioner Gordon for that film and its three sequels - joked that he had been playing lawmen and judges for so long that there was one costume floating around Hollywood called the "Pat Hingle outfit" that he would wear whenever he made a movie. I always thought that he was terrific as Gordon, but that he never got to develop the role as fully as he deserved. Let's not even talk about what happened by the time Batman and Robin rolled around (but that happened to everyone associated with that stinker anyway)...

The first time I ever saw Hingle in a role, it was on a Sunday afternoon when I was a wee small kid and WFMY out of Greensboro aired Hang 'Em High, with Hingle as the judge who makes a marshal out of Clint Eastwood. But Pat Hingle was a character actor whose repertoire went far beyond judicial types. He also won wide acclaim as the father to Sally Field's Norma Rae, and he enjoyed a particularly nasty role as Mr. Hendershot, the owner of the truck stop in Maximum Overdrive. It was while making that film that Hingle discovered the coast of North Carolina, where he wound up making his home.

And that is where Pat Hingle, world-renowned character actor, passed away over the weekend at the age of 84 following a two-year battle with a blood disorder.

He will be missed.

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BRING ME THE HEAD OF CHARLIE BROWN

In 1986, CBS Television was presented with the following roughly-animated proposal for a new Peanuts holiday special. Apparently it was decided somewhere that Charles Schulz's classic characters needed upgrading to become more timely and "Eighties" in order to "reinvigorate the franchise". Network execs saw the proposal - a short film by Jim Reardon - and immediately and quietly chose to bury it within the CBS vault. More than twenty years later and thanks to YouTube, it has finally seen the light of day! Here is Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown...

(For the real story of Reardon and his hilarious short, mash down here.)

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"Hey let's watch that Johnny Robertson nut!"

This post will dovetail nicely with the update from earlier today about cult leader Johnny Robertson and his "Religious Review Multimedia". Which after tonight I have to ask aloud: has anybody heard Robertson or Oldfield mention this ever before the last two months? Because I've been keeping my eye on the "Church of Christ in Name Only" cult for a few years now, but "Religious Review" didn't enter into Robertson's public vernacular until November 2008. And from hearing him use it now, you'd think that it was always a part of his operation.

In comic book terminology, that is what is called a "retcon". Who'da thought that we'd see it play out in real life (apart from pro wrestling)?

Tonight two friends were over at the Knight Casa. Let's call them Friend #1 and Friend #2. One of them had read the post earlier today and just before 8:30 p.m. he suggested "Hey let's watch that Johnny Robertson nut!"

So that's what we did for the next hour and a half. Neither one of 'em had seen it before. And both of them asked a number of times during the show "What kind of a station lets someone that evil on television?"

Indeed.

Tonight's What Does the Bible Say? (which would be called What Does Johnny Robertson Demand? if there were "truth in titling" laws) started off with Robertson "recapping" quickly all the action that happened in 2008. He mentioned Larry Surber's appearance. He mentioned "The Sheik". He mentioned the Nation of Islam guys (that a few days later Robertson tried to frame for painting a bomb threat on the side of the Danville Church of Christ), he mentioned quite a few other folks...

...but he dared not name me.

Oh, he referred to the "Jedi Knight", referring to when I dressed in my Jedi costume to address the Rockingham County Board of Education in July 2007 on the issue of school uniforms, but as Friend #2 was quick to point out: "Yeah but you won!" The implication almost seemed that if one is not wearing what is apparently "Church of Christ" approved attire - namely cheap polyester suits and cowboy hats - then one is not "serious" enough. But I digress...

Robertson referred to a "hate site" that was out to "destroy" him. I don't know if "hate" is the right word but at last count there are no less than four blogs that have taken it upon themselves to document Robertson and Oldfield's spite-filled jihad against decent and sincere Christians in this area. There is Answering the Church of Christ, WalkingInLove's blog, the legitimate Religious Review blog, and the one you're reading now (which is devoted to pretty much everything in existence).

And then Robertson brought up "Religious Review Multimedia" again, which as was reported earlier he claimed went all the way back to 2002. Tonight Robertson pushed it back even further, claiming that "Religious Review" had been around for ten years. Sorta like how in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four that the Party kept pushing Big Brother's exploits back more and more.

(Friend #1: "I don't think even Johnny knows what Religious Review is...")

It wasn't long afterward that Robertson made a very startling admission, and I have to wonder if he understands how big of a goof this might have been. He said that in the years since he came to this area, first operating out of Collinsville, Virginia (which is a story for another time) that he had baptized "two hundred and fifty to three hundred individuals" into his Church of Christ (which is nothing like the real Churches of Christ that most people know and admire). Then he confessed that of those 250-300, that "only" 75 were currently attending worship services! What happened to all the rest? Robertson could not have been more clear in stating his belief: that they were "unfaithful" and thus were damned to Hell.

Let's study that for a sec: if Johnny Robertson had brought, on average, about 280 people into the "Church of Christ" and only 75 were still "faithful" enough, then that is an attrition rate of 75%, give or take. If we went with the most liberal estimate, then at one point 300 people were saved and going to Heaven, but then 225 of them fell away from Robertson's cult and now there are only 75 people, more or less, that are going to Heaven today.

A caller late in the show pounced on this and got Robertson flustered about how out of all the people in the Martinsville and Henry County area, that only those 75 members of the Church of Christ were going to Heaven. At one point Robertson even compared himself to Noah and how he and his family out of millions were spared by God.

The caller kept pressing the issue. And my friends at last got to see a glimpse of the real Johnny Robertson: the ecclesiastical bully who, in the words of the caller, has to "scare people" into accepting his way or no way at all. The Johnny Robertson who has taken it upon himself to declare whether others are "faithful" enough for God.

The caller - a gentleman - told Robertson that he only took the name "Church of Christ" but that neither Robertson or his group had anything to do with the real body of Christ at all.

And the gentleman is right.

That is all that Robertson has to pin his claim of spiritual authority on: that there's a shingle outside his building in Martinsville which happens to say "Church of Christ".

Heck, any congregation of followers of Christ can call themselves "Church of Christ" and they would be right. Just as any cult could call itself "Church of Christ" but if it is not seeking after Christ in love and sharing His mercy and grace with others, then it is worthless and doesn't matter what it calls itself.

Robertson also made quite a lot of goofs tonight that we caught. He claimed that Lydia was "raised from the dead" by Peter (she wasn't, see Acts 16) and he totally mangled the Catholic perspective on the role of the pope.

(Friend #2: "He plays on emotion... he's manipulative but not very intellectual." To which I replied: "Amen to that!")

With at least four blogs now documenting his lies and misdeeds, and a few others that I know of who have taken up some activism in the past several months against the cult, it was brought up "Why isn't Robertson fighting and debating in the blogosphere?" The thoughts of my friends? That Robertson can't. When he posts on Answering the Church of Christ, Robertson becomes a very crude, uncouth and unlettered man. He writes from his mouth instead of his mind. Which if he did stop to think about matters, he would at least have enough sense to realize that what is chronicled on the Internet will last much longer than anything he does on WGSR Star 39 out of Reidsville and Martinsville.

Why won't Robertson take me on again, either here in the online realm or in a televised debate (which I did give him the opporunity for after he asked for it): "You're better than him and he knows it," Friend #1 said.

"Yeah your name was like radioactive tonight" Friend #2 chortled.

Friend #1: "I noticed that he never prayed. Don't most preachers on television do that?"

Me: "Does he really have a God to pray to?"

Friend #2: "If God is for Johnny Robertson then why doesn't God let him be on WFMY or WGHP or any other of the much better stations?"

Friend #1: "Probably because none of the other stations wants him."

Me: "Yeah, there's only one station in the area that has management that is that desperate."

---

I'll close this post out by making one last remark about Johnny Robertson's show tonight. At one point he got into an extended argument with a caller about miracles in the modern age. Johnny Robertson does not believe that miraculous healing takes place anymore. He completely denies that there is such a thing as the greater spiritual realm which can and does interact with our physical world.

All three of us watching his show tonight knew, without even having to tell each other, that Robertson could not be more wrong. Because each of us has seen, on our own, a miracle take place. And in some cases, many more than one miracle.

We know who we put our confidence in. And it is not in the mad babblings of a man who demands that God be very, very small.

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Religulous Review: Johnny Robertson admits to "multimedia" schizoid sham... with a clip show?!

(With kindest regards to Bill Maher for coming up with such a great new word that I couldn't help but apply it to another bunch of loonies that he would probably laugh at as well...)

In late November this blog reported on local cult leader Johnny Robertson - of what I call "the Church of Christ in Name Only" - employing the services of what he referred to on his live TV show as "Religious Review Multimedia Group", and Robertson heavily implied that whoever "Religious Review Multimedia Group" was, that they were an independent outfit covering matters of faith.

Except the whole thing was something Robertson made up. And in the footage that he aired, that's his own teenage son who's now following in his old man's footsteps with the hidden cameras and "in yo face" confrontations.

"Religious Review Multimedia Group" was, as is so often with Johnny Robertson and which has been documented on this blog many time before, an outrageous lie.

By the way, at least one person has privately told me that for accusing one church of child pornography on live television, that Johnny Robertson "should be shot" and that for allowing such slander to be broadcast unquestioned and without research, that WGSR general manager Charles Roark should have his license revoked by the Federal Communications Commission. I can certainly see some merit to that. About the FCC anyway...

(Why did you let Robertson say such a thing anyway, huh Roark? Or do you simply not care what Johnny Robertson says? Is it true that Johnny Robertson owns your miserable excuse for a soul and that you don't have the backbone to stand up for journalistic integrity? Sadly, many of us know the answer to that question.)

So there is no such thing as "Religious Review Multimedia Group". Or there used to not be anyhoo... because as I noted last week it now appears that other folks are taking the initiative against the damage that Johnny Robertson and his second cousin/toady James Oldfield have been doing to north-central North Carolina and southside Virginia. I don't know who's behind it but the Religious Review blog is off to a fine start. And in its latest post, Religious Review (The Blog) provides hard evidence for Robertson and Oldfield's chicanery...

What are they trying to prove?

Apparently, Johnny Robertson and his second cousin James Oldfield are feeling a bit guilty about the recent public backlash against their misleading use of something called "Religious Review". Because tonight, on "What Does the Bible Say", they showed an old rerun of "What Does the Bible Say" with a banner below reading "Vintage RELIGIOUS REVIEW".

How much criticism must they have gotten for their dishonesty to devote an entire program to trying to prove that they aren't doing anything wrong? Why is this "Vintage RELIGIOUS REVIEW"? They were calling the program "What Does the Bible Say" even back then, not "Religious Review". More dishonesty!

Maybe the threat of legal action scared them into trying to prove themselves. Nice try, boys, but you didn't prove anything with this.

"What Does the Bible Say"...
effective computer usage since 2002

Yes folks, believe it or not: Johnny Robertson tried to hoodwink everyone into believing that "Religious Review" has been around since 2002... with a clip show!

(I didn't see that show personally, but I did manage to catch and chuckle at the "All Calls Special" that Oldfield had running in place of his usual show this past Thursday night.)

I've talked with a lot of people who have been following the Johnny Robertson cult for longer than I've been paying attention to it, and to the best of their knowledge "Religious Review Multimedia Group" didn't exist until the past couple of months. But in a bizarre statement that he made on the Answering Church of Christ blog, Robertson said the following (in his typical bewildering ranting style)...

keep up Walking in (not) love all anyone has to do is go back for the last 6 years and see that I have been doing RR for a long time

Religious Review was hated in Martinsville long before you fellows caught on to my work.Thanks for the advertising though

Can this man not make up his mind as to whether or not he is or is not affiliated with "Religious Review Multimedia Group"? First Robertson makes out as if they are some serious Web 2.0 outfit independent of him. Now, he says that he is "Religious Review Multimedia Group" and in an act of apparent time travel, he claims that they have existed for at least six years.

That is either a lie of omission, or a leap of insanity.

Either way, "walkinginlove" asked this of Robertson on the same thread...

As for the RR site, I have no idea who did it or why but I do know that you are falsely representing yourself and that is a lie Johnny, now in your belief system you may think it is ok, but do liars inherit the kingdom of heaven?

How indeed, Johnny Robertson? Can you honestly say that your behavior is reflective of a Christ-like life, or that this is the kind of attitude that is going to be rewarded in the Kingdom of Heaven?

I don't doubt that Robertson betrayed what his real motivation is with what he said a few days ago...

"we are revealing the evil behaviors of you all"

If you are not a member of Robertson's cult, you are "evil" and damned to Hell. That's what it boils down to.

But what is now becoming common knowledge is that Johnny Robertson is more like a "useful idiot" for the real cult leaders (like Shawn Paden) in and around east Texas. They're the ones (no matter how much Robertson claims otherwise) who keep sending the thousands of dollars for Robertson and his second cousin James Oldfield (gotta love how fast that tidbit has become well known too!) to be operating on the only television station that had management desperate enough to sell airtime and sell out to anyone with the cash. Without that, Robertson would have been a former imprisoned felon who, as one commenter on this blog put it, has "abandonment issues" from how bad his father treated him and his mother.

Johnny Robertson, you're from Texas. Maybe you've heard of the saying there: "You've got to rise above your raisin'." Those are wise words and you'd do well to heed them. Instead of running around the area acting like a liar and lunatic and ruining the lives of your kid and whoever else.

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Time to celebrate

Today, after many months of effort, I finished working on something and turned it loose to the will of God or the winds of fate, or whatever it is that you wish to call it.

What is it? I don't wanna tip my hand just yet, but I will say that in the first three days of 2009, things have been going exceptionally well. Much better than I am used to, even. And I like to believe that it means God is promising even better to come.

Hopefully, I'll be able to talk about this at length in the weeks and months to come :-)

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If you haven't been reading WOLVERINE: OLD MAN LOGAN...

...then you really owe it to yourself to go find the back issues, or if you're patient enough then to wait for the trade paperback and buy that as soon as it comes out. 'Cuz this seriously might be the greatest story about Wolverine that Marvel Comics has ever published.

I first wrote about the "Old Man Logan" arc back in August when Wolverine #66 hit the stands. The story begins fifty years in the future, long after Logan wandered away and threw himself into self pity following the night that the bad guys finally conquered the country (and maybe the world). In all that time, Logan hasn't "popped his claws" even once, having relegated himself to the role of a pacifistic farmer, husband and father. During the long odyssey that he and the now-blind Hawkeye have taken across the ruined plains of America, there have been heavy hints that whatever it was that drove Wolverine to renounce violence, it must have been very, very bad.

With Wolverine #70 and Part 5 of "Old Man Logan", now we know what it was.

My God...

Wolverine has long been the most popular mutant in the Marvel stable. But I don't know, in the almost 35 years since the character was introduced, if there has been a single story... nay, a single issue... that has evoked so much both horror and empathy for the guy. Whatever it was that you thought might have been cause for Wolverine to "throw down his sword" and walk away from the fight, that probably is still not anywhere close to what writer Mark Millar came up with. I'm not saying that it will go down in comics history as being anywhere as tragic as the death of Gwen Stacy, but ya gotta give it up for the crew behind "Old Man Logan": they definitely went for broke and into places that even as often a dark a character as Wolverine, has never gone before.

"Old Man Logan" is highly recommended, even if, like me, you are only a casual reader of comic books.

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And the Eleventh Doctor will bear the face of... Matt Smith!

Matt Smith, who at age 26 will be the youngest person ever to take on the role, will be the next actor to portray the Doctor on Doctor Who, the BBC announced today.

This will be the eleventh incarnation of the Doctor since the series began all the way back in November 1963. Smith will take over from David Tennant, who has been playing the Doctor since the finale of the revived series's first season in 2005. Presumably the changeover will happen during the Christmas special a little less than a year from now.

In case you're wondering how this happens, the Doctor is a Time Lord from Gallifrey and whenever his current body gets too old or injured (or there's a contract dispute with the BBC) he has the ability to "regenerate": giving him a new body and usually a slightly different personality. So it's been the same Doctor ever since the beginning, just different versions of the guy.

And already, even before regeneration takes place, Matt Smith faces potentially more than any other Doctor before him. There's River Song who odds are good he'll finally "meet for the first time" now that Steven Moffat will be running the show. But on a more sinister note it has been rumored that Moffat wants to address the nasty business of the Valeyard now that we're getting Doctor #11.

What do I think of Matt Smith as the Doctor? I really don't know anything about him. But I definitely believe he looks like a potentially good Doctor. We shall see, beginning this coming December! :-)

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A great quote I found tonight...

"Those who dance are thought mad by they who hear not the music."

I liked it enough to post here :-)

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Must-see WATCHMEN featurette

It's funny: tomorrow marks the fifth anniversary of this blog getting started. And right from the very beginning I've been writing about attempts to adapt Watchmen to the big screen, mostly about how it could never be made. And now, 64 days from today and after more than twenty years of trying to do it, Watchmen will actually come out (provided that the ridiculous legal fight that Fox is now waging against Warner Bros. gets resolved in time).

But while the lawyers hash it out in the courts, check out this Trailer Park-exclusive Watchmen piece with director Zach Snyder. Look at that shot of Dr. Manhattan shaking hands with President Kennedy at the White House: looks positively eerie! Also in this featurette are the scenes where Rorschach confronts Moloch in the kitchen and the whole exchange between Nite Owl and Comedian about "the American Dream".

This might be the biggest movie of 2009. And I'm already planning on seeing it at least twice on opening day :-)

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My latest letter to the editor: Too many Christians worship political might

2009 is only a few scant hours old and it's already seen my first published work for the new year. In today's News & Record (the big paper serving this region) out of Greensboro there's this letter, "Political power presents a false god for Christians", written by Yours Truly.

Here's the full text of it...

My thoughts regarding the recent election were confirmed when the son of a prominent local minister told me, "Why can I not have both?" when I remarked that the Christians of America can pursue Christ or pursue power, but they cannot pursue them together.

Who is to blame most for the election of Barack Obama? The self-professed "conservative Christians." The ones who have for many years made an idol of political influence. Instead of the God of heaven, they have turned to worshiping a "god of fortresses" bereft of sincere love, mercy and grace.

These are the people who most claim that they are doing "the work of the Lord." But in reality they show the lost of this world anything but why Christ came to us. Their lust for power does not demonstrate anything different than what the people of this world have seen already.

My fellow Christians: You are worried about the outcome of a mere election? Then you are not worried about what truly matters at all. Stop sheepishly following the hucksters like James Dobson and Pat Robertson. God cannot bless our lust for political power. It is time to let it fall away and die.

Christopher Knight
Reidsville

And in case anyone's wondering, here's the post on this blog where the exchange with Jeff Baity of Berean Baptist Church in Winston-Salem took place, where I told him that he and the other Christians of this nation must choose between "saving the lost from a dying world or saving a dying world from the lost" but they cannot have both.

What do y'all think? Feel free to leave comments here or on the letter's own page at the News & Record website.

On another note, it was announced in the News & Record this past week that Elma Sabo and Becky Layton are retiring from the editorial department of the newspaper. I've been reading Elma for many years and had the pleasure of talking to her a few times, and I certainly wish her all the best in her future projects. And as for Becky Layton: hers was the voice that I heard on the phone, back in 1991, regarding the first piece of writing that I ever submitted for publication. Since then we have wound up chatting more times than I can remember, not just about the letters and other pieces that I was turning in but about other stuff too. She has been a fine front lady for the News & Record editorial department, and a very neat person through and through. And it is sad to know that I won't be hearing her voice on the other end anymore but I also wish her only the best in whatever she winds up doing from here on out :-)

Ladies, my hat's off to ya!

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The only thing I know to be said about 2008...

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

-- Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities

No "end of year" review this time. I wouldn't know where to begin... or where to end it for that matter.

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Doctor apparently used liposuctioned fat to fuel his car

Tyler Durden should have thought BIGGER...

Doesn't seem to be any dearth of weird news this past month. In the latest bizarro story, a Beverly Hills doctor is accused of running his Ford SUV and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator with fat that he liposuctioned from patients. The doctor in question, Craig Alan Bittner, supposedly even bragged on his website that he had pioneered the creation of "lipodiesel". He's now in trouble with several former patients who allege that he disfigured them.

Maybe there's a silver lining to this strange situation. With a vast segment of the population dangerously obese, and there being such a demand for both environmentally and economically-sound energy, maybe "lipodiesel" is the silver bullet that can wipe out a whole slew of problems plaguing this country! We've all heard the old phrase "You are what you eat"? Maybe it's time for "You are what you drive"!

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Oregon governor wants to use satellites to impose mileage tax

To quote that bard of our age Will Smith: "AWWW HELL NAWWWW!!!"

The state of Oregon has a problem, according to its governor Ted Kulongoski. In his words, "As Oregonians drive less and demand more fuel-efficient vehicles, it is increasingly important that the state find a new way, other than the gas tax, to finance our transportation system."

So Governor Kulongoski wants to use Global Positioning System technology to impose a "mileage tax" that will "replace" the gas tax.

If his mad plan proceeds and you are an Oregon citizen, every time you take off in your car its movements will be monitored by your state government, and a tax will be imposed for each mile that you drive.

I'm gonna say it, my Worst Possible Epithet for Anything: This sucks donkey's balls to no end.

If Kulongoski gets away with this, it'll only be persisting the pattern that has gone on far too long in this country: government at every level thirsting for money and power, and abusing it when it gets it. Does anyone seriously believe this is going to supplant the gas tax in Oregon? Within a year of it being imposed, the state will decree that "not enough taxes" are being collected and the gas tax will be reinforced on top of the mileage tax.

Not to mention that this is an extreme violation of the Constitution, and the people's right to free movement.

Folks, and I'm not just talking about y'all in Oregon, please listen to me here: too much of the government of this country is out of control. The past few months alone should have indicated that much regardless of how obtuse an observer might be. The "bailouts" should never have happened, and we're getting taxed to the breaking point. At the rate this is happening, can it really be said that our children and their children will know of a free America as we once appreciated?

So the question becomes: what are we going to do about it?

If you are in Oregon, I hope and pray that you will pull out all the stops and resist this insane scheme by your governor.

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United 93 families want Bush to steal land for memorial

Many of the families of passengers who died aboard United Airlines Flight 93 want George W. Bush to approve a seizure by the federal government of the field where the ill-fated flight crashed on the morning of the 9/11 attacks. The families want to turn the field into a memorial.

In other words, these people want to implement socialism to commemorate freedom.

I have never liked "eminent domain" uses like this, which is what the United 93 families are trying to call the seizure. But this isn't for something needed like a highway or whatever. In this case it boils down to taking privately-held property (owned by Svonavec Inc.) by force of government, for benefit of a very few people.

Look, I think that what the passengers on United 93 did was courage personified. And their example is certainly something that all people can look to as an act of selfless abandon. But it is wrong to attempt to "memorialize" those who fought back on United 93 by violating the virtues of the country that they wound up doing everything in their power to protect.

You want to know what would be a much more appropriate memorial to United 93? Let the owners of Svonavec do with the field as they see fit. If "they" indeed "hate us for our freedoms" then what better way to give "the terris" a giant middle finger than to show 'em 2,200 acres of pure undefeated capitalism?

(Incidentally, 2,200 acres is how big the United 93 families want the memorial to be. Isn't the Vietnam War Memorial at Arlington something like one or two acres?)

Wouldn't surprise me if Bush approved the seizure in his final days as President. The man has shown so little regard for conservative values anyway: why should he feel obligated to demonstrate 'em now?

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Coming in 2009 from KWerky Productions...

This afternoon I finished writing the first draft of the script for the first "episode" of a project that, Lord willing, we're going to start filming in the next few months. We've already found most of the cast too.

But before that, "Weird" Ed and I may be doing something that, I like to believe it'll have some significant social relevance. At the moment I can't help but think that it'll be along the lines of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas without all the drugs.

And then, at last, I hope to begin shooting Keys, which has been my pet project for going on three years now. Had real life situations not intervened it could have been made already. But in a crazy sort of way the delay has helped make it a much stronger product. I've learned things as a writer and as a film-maker that are going to be poured into it. Yah there's been other projects I've been working on in the meantime, mostly for clients: now it's time to start filming for me. This past week a much better ending presented itself too, that I feel a lot more confident about.

Stay tuned to the official KWerky Productions website as we'll soon be updating it with more about all the good stuff we're working to roll out in the Year of our Lord Two Thousand and Nine :-)

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About the "Religious Review" blog (Plus: How Johnny Robertson spends Christmas!)

In the past week I've received three e-mails directing my attention to Religious Review, a newly established blog. And it's been asked if I'm the person behind it.

I am not. And I didn't even know about Religious Review until the last several days. But I certainly have to applaud whoever it is who set it up.

As was reported on this blog last month, "Religious Review" is the name of the bogus outfit that local cult leader Johnny Robertson came up with in his continuing bid to harass and intimidate the legitimate churches in this area. He and crony/second cousin James Oldfield have already been known to confront innocent individuals with hidden cameras and such. Now Robertson has recruited his own son to go out in the name of "Religious Review" and do the same.

So what sayeth the real Religious Review?

Folks have been talking about "Religious Review" since it was mentioned on "What Does the Bible Say?" recently. It's been said that for a multi-media company, it is strange that "Religious Review" doesn't have any sort of internet representation.

This blog is not affiliated with Johnny Robertson's fake "Religious Review". We don't go into churches with video cameras under false pretenses and pretend to be something we are not. We don't lie and mislead people so we can get juicy soundbites for church of Christ television broadcasts. That is the fake "Religious Review". We're real.

Whoever this person is, he/she is not alone in going after the "Church of Christ in Name Only" loons. Mash down here for a somewhat more crude response to Robertson's acts of un-Christlike bullying. It certainly does seem that lots of other people are beginning to stand up to the cult leader/convicted felon Johnny Robertson, aye?

And since we're on the subject...

For the most part I've been away from this blog for the past several days, doing "Christmas celebratin'" stuff with family and friends. Still, I've kept a watch on the stats from time to time, partly because it's been interesting to see where the traffic has been coming from regarding the story I posted here on Monday about the "angel" photograph at a Charlotte hospital. Probably been the most visits this blog's ever received during the holiday season...

...And one person in particular couldn't stay away from it for very long. According to the stats, Johnny Robertson (trust me, it's him) visited this blog for the better part of half an hour on Christmas Eve night, and then came to it at least four times on Christmas Day.

How someone uses their time is their own business. But really: to have nothing better to do on Christmas Eve night than to obsess about THIS blog?! And then to keep coming to it on Christmas Day?

That is pathetic beyond measure.

How did my loved ones and myself spend Christmas? Being thankful to God for what He has blessed us with. Seems like at least one other person was spending it harboring spite and resentment. That ain't understanding why Christ came to this world at all.

Johnny, go outside and play. Quit trying to wreck life for others just because your daddy did you and your momma wrong. There's a whole lot of wonderful things that God has made for you to appreciate if you'd only allow yourself that indulgence.

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First poster for LAND OF THE LOST

Props to Cinematical for scoring the first look at the teaser poster for this summer's Land of the Lost, starring Will Ferrell and based on the television show from thirty years ago...

Friday night I watched Elf for the first time. It's a very funny movie! And it reinforced what I said a year ago when I first reported on this movie: that given a serious treatment of the plot, Ferrell could expand on the perception most folks have of him, 'cuz he would prove that he's capable of being a legitimate action star. Though from what I'm hearing Land of the Lost is still being produced as a comedy... which the original TV show was anything but.

Nice poster. I like the giant carved Sleestak especially. But color me "overly cautious" about this for the time being.

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