"The Incident": LOST Season 5 ends tonight... with a bang?!

The situation as things stand now on Lost...

- Still trapped in 1977, Jack is hellbent on following through with the now-dead Daniel's plan to change the future and make it so that Oceanic Flight 815 never crashes in 2004.

- Daniel's plan to alter history, incidentally, hinges on detonating the Jughead hydrogen bomb before the drilling at the Swan Station releases the energy in what the Swan orientation film called "the incident".

- Sawyer, Juliet and Kate are on the DHARMA Initiative submarine that has left the Island.

- Dr. Chang now knows that Miles is his son, and that Hurley and his friends are from the future.

- Meanwhile in 2007, Locke has taken charge of the Others. He has decided to lead them all on a little hike into the jungle to find Jacob: the unseen "great man" who supposedly calls all the shots for the Others.

- What Locke hasn't told anyone yet... except an obviously horrified Ben... is that he intends to kill Jacob when they finally meet him.

- And there is still the little matter of Ilana, Bram and the rest of the Ajira Flight 316 survivors who have taken Frank hostage and are presumably headed toward whatever "lies in the shadow of the statue".

The penultimate season of Lost comes down to a two-hour finale tonight at 9 p.m. on ABC. And "The Incident" threatens to be the most explosive (literally) cliffhanger episode in television history. Will Jack explode the Jughead? Will we finally get to see Jacob? What does lie in the shadow of the statue? And will we ever discover why Richard Alpert never ages a day?!

The DHARMA Initiative munchies are being prepared even now. I might try to Twitter spontaneous reaction during commercial breaks. Otherwise, expect the post-episode commentary later this evening.

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BIOSHOCK 2 to include multiplayer PREQUEL game (and why I don't like the sound of it)

I'll admit that right now there's not a whole lot of information about this to yet pass final judgment. But I sure hope that 2K Games has taken some things into consideration with this move...

BioShock 2, the upcoming sequel to 2007's haunting and intellect-jarring first-person shooter, will have a multiplayer aspect: something that was absent from the original BioShock. 2K has hired Digital Extremes - a company that has worked on successful titles such as Unreal Tournament and Dark Sector - to concentrate on BioShock 2's multiplayer component. However it has become clear that what Digital Extremes will be doing is not so much a mere "complement" to BioShock 2 as it will be an entire beast of a gaming experience in its own right.

In multiplayer mode you'll have access to "weapons, plasmid and tonic unlocks, so that you'll ultimately be able to kit out your player with hundreds of combinations to compete to earn online experience points."

Sounds good so far. But wait! Here's what's popping up a huge red flag...

The mode will act as a prequel, and it is shaping up to be something of a must-play, as gamers will become test subjects for the plasmids made by Sinclair Solutions, and will have to explore the world of Rapture and see it fall into decadence and, ultimately, into ruin. The wide variety of plasmids and tonics are certain to give birth to a lot of interesting combinations...

Players will step into the shoes of Rapture citizens and learn more about the fall of Rapture as they progress through the experience...

Experience Rapture before it was reclaimed by the ocean and engage in combat over iconic environments in locations such as Kashmir Restaurant and Mercury Suites, all of which have been reworked from the ground up to deliver a fast-paced multiplayer experience.

So multiplayer BioShock 2 is going to provide our first-ever look at what Rapture was like before the cataclysmic events of New Years Eve 1958, when the underwater utopian metropolis finally succumbed to the dark side of human nature and erupted into civil war. As one who loves the lore of BioShock, I can dig that much.

But what about the BioShock fans out there who either can't get in on multiplayer for various reasons, or who simply don't care for this kind of game play?

Are they going to be cheated out of some delicious BioShock history? Will they be punished for their geography or their preference for solo play, and locked out of getting a look at pre-fall Mercury Suites and the Kashmir?

Because I'm one of those myself. I've done online multiplayer "shoot 'em ups" before and yeah they're fun for awhile, but personally I find engaging story and characters in a game like BioShock and Gears of War to be more intriguing. I'd much rather explore the worlds of those games at my own pace, instead of having to constantly worry about some 15-year old hormone machine calling himself "Lance" all the way in Minneapolis sniping me from the shadows so he can up his Xbox Live gamer score.

So are solitary players like myself going to become a segregated class in the social order of Rapture? Are 2K Games and Digital Extremes going to dictate that individuality is undesirable, that we must be collective in our game play?

Somehow I don't think Andrew Ryan would approve of that going on in his city.

And I can't believe that there are many solo-oriented BioShock fans who are going to enjoy that very much either.

I'm not going to ask for multiplayer to be stripped out of BioShock 2. For those who thrive on that sort of video gaming, I will sincerely hope that BioShock 2's will set a whole new standard for multiplaying excellence. But I am going to be anticipating that 2K Games and Digital Extremes have taken "the rest of us" into account, and will give lone players a chance to also fully explore Rapture at the height of its glory.

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One small kiss for a teen, one giant slap in the face to "Christian" legalism

Tyler Frost, who was suspended and kept from graduating by the principal of Heritage Christian School in Findlay, Ohio for the "sin" of taking his girlfriend to her prom, is shown here giving Rebecca Smoody a kiss that in the immortal words of Andy Griffith was "right smack-dab on the MOUTH!"

Said kiss also took place within ready eyesight of Heritage Christian School, which has ridiculously banned its students from dancing, hand holding, kissing, "rock music" and other things... both on campus and off.

I hope and pray that the windows of that school were filled with the gazes of curious students who beheld Tyler's act of rebellion against "the rules".

Does this mean that Heritage Christian principal Tim England will have Frost expelled?

Well, like I've said already (maybe too much at that): Tyler Frost did nothing wrong as a follower of Christ. This is all about Heritage Christian School and Calvary Baptist Church that runs it, throwing its own legalistic weight around. The school and church are a pack of Pharisees: setting up stumbling blocks that keep people from knowing the real love and grace of Jesus Christ. And so far as this blogger is concerned, Tyler Frost is being way more a sincere follower of Christ than Tim England and Gordon Dickson, who have placed worship of their church's doctrine above that of serving Christ in loving humility.

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Hyper-inflation, here we come!

The United States government will be borrowing 46 cents for ever dollar that it spends for the current fiscal year.

This country is now on the fast track to joining Zimbabwe. Or maybe the Weimar Republic is a better comparison...

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Republicans trying to hijack the "Tea Party" movement

Politico.com is reporting that GOP governors Mark Sanford of South Carolina and Rick Perry of Texas are attempting to pull off what is being called "Tea Party 2.0".

But a lot of people are seeing this as an effort by the Republican Party's leadership and elected officials to "hitch their wagons" to the grassroots "Tea Party" movement that has taken place over the past couple of months in protest of Washington's runaway taxing and spending.

And I'm inclined to more than slightly agree with that sentiment.

Look at what is happening to the Republicans of late: as a party they aren't even pretending anymore that their purpose is about anything but regaining political power. And damned few average Americans are taking them seriously as a result.

(And I write this as one who is still currently registered as a Republican, for whatever the hell worth that's supposed to have...)

So let me be succinct: the Tea Party drive is the one marginally successful movement that we have seen in American politics of late. In its purest, most unadulterated form it is something that is not a product of any political party, and should remain above and beyond partisan influence if it is to achieve its greatest potency.

And the Republicans, with nothing to show for themselves (neither do the Democrats but I digress), are now seeing the Tea Parties not as a thing to emulate but as a thing to exploit.

So to those who have been active in the Tea Party movement, I would like to suggest the following and ask that you take it to heart...

KEEP THE REPUBLICAN PARTY LEADERSHIP AS FAR THE HELL AWAY FROM THE TEA PARTIES AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN!

Do whatever the #*@& is necessary to maintain this as a movement driven by the average citizen. If you ever hold a rally, only allow private individuals the opportunity to take to the podium and voice their concerns. Don't give the elected officials a chance to grandstand and steal the momentum that your passion and energy has produced. You aren't doing this to hear "them": you are doing this to make damned sure that "they" hear YOU!

There is no reason at all to put any faith in either the Republicans or the Democrats. When the two major "parties" are more infatuated with the antics of Rush Limbaugh and Wanda Sykes than they are with being about solid principles and responsible government, something is very wrong. They sure as hell aren't going to do anything about their own mess.

And you shouldn't give them a chance to make a mess of your own efforts either.

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Venetia Phair, namer of Pluto, has passed away

The sad news has arrived that Venetia Phair has passed away in her native England at the age of 90.

It was her idea to give the solar system's ninth planet (or first "Trans-Neptunian object" if you're some kind of wacko liberal astronomer... just kidding :-) the name "Pluto". Nine years old at the time in 1930 and born Venetia Burney, she was already quite knowledgeable about astronomy and classical mythology when "Planet X" was discovered.

Click on the link above for the entire fascinating story of how one little girl's breakfast-time suggestion became enthusiastically embraced by not just the scientific community, but also by the entire world.

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A question for my fellow Christians

If we are commanded to "test the spirits" (1st John 4:1)...

...then how much more so should we boldly question the motivations of mere men?

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Our tax dollars at work: Training Chinese prostitutes how to drink responsibly

Official policy of the United States federal government is now to refer to prostitutes as "female sex workers" (FSW) and to their pimps as "gatekeepers".

It would almost be funny, except that $2.6 million of our tax money is being spent on teaching Chinese "female sex workers" how to "drink responsibly".

From CNSNews.com...

U.S. Will Pay $2.6 Million to Train Chinese Prostitutes to Drink Responsibly on the Job
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
By Edwin Mora

(CNSNews.com) -- The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), will pay $2.6 million in U.S. tax dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly on the job.

Dr. Xiaoming Li, the researcher conducting the program, is director of the Prevention Research Center at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit.

The grant, made last November, refers to prostitutes as "female sex workers"--or FSW--and their handlers as "gatekeepers."

"Previous studies in Asia and Africa and our own data from FSWs [female sex workers] in China suggest that the social norms and institutional policy within commercial sex venues as well as agents overseeing the FSWs (i.e., the 'gatekeepers', defined as persons who manage the establishments and/or sex workers) are potentially of great importance in influencing alcohol use and sexual behavior among establishment-based FSWs," says the NIH grant abstract submitted by Dr. Li.

"Therefore, in this application, we propose to develop, implement, and evaluate a venue-based alcohol use and HIV risk reduction intervention focusing on both environmental and individual factors among venue-based FSWs in China," says the abstract.

The research will take place in the southern Chinese province of Guangxi...

I guess it's only fitting: our government has been prostituting itself to China and just about anyone else for so long anyway.

Feel free to leave comments. Even if it's a joke that would normally be better left unsaid. At this point, I don't care.

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MPAA wants teachers to camcorder movies, not rip DVDs

Try this one the next time you go to see a blockbuster movie like Star Trek in the theater: record it with a camcorder and if you get caught, tell the cinema management that "I'm a teacher who needs this for my students!"

Nutty though it sounds, that is what the Motion Picture Association of America is telling teachers to do instead of ripping video from copyrighted DVDs if they want to get clips for classroom purposes. The MPAA has even prepared an instructional video (left) demonstrating how teachers can set up a television with DVD player, and then aim their camcorder at the screen to record it. Which is not only silly but as the article at Ars Technica notes, this is much more laborious and time-consuming on the part of the teacher as opposed to digitally capturing (AKA "ripping" the video segments that they need).

This should be a moot thing anyway, since use of copyrighted material for legitimate educational purposes has long been acknowledged and allowed under fair use provisions.

And how is this different from letting students come in with projects they have made using copyrighted material anyway? I took some communications classes at Elon and a lot of other students did work with clips from movies and TV shows that flat-out astounded everyone who watched 'em. In the modern era does that mean that according to the MPAA those students would all be criminals 'cuz they didn't capture their footage with a camcorder?

(They'd prolly still look better than the MPAA's own "instructional video", that's for sure...)

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Tyler Frost gives his girlfriend a "great" night at her prom... and his "Christian" principal punishes him for it

This is gonna be another one of "those" posts that lately are coming all too frequently. The sort where I succumb to the angels of my lesser nature and resort to vernacular that in days of enforced polity would have seen me heavily fined or banished from the Realm.

(But hey, I figure that I've earned enough cred as both a serious writer and a follower of Christ, that I can open up the proverbial "can o' whup-ass" when the situation demands bringing out the heavy guns. So it is here...)

I wrote here on Saturday about Tyler Frost of Findlay, Ohio, the 17-year old high school senior who was excited about taking his girlfriend to the prom. But alas! Young Master Frost's dear lady is a student at a public high school... while Frost is weeks away from graduating from Heritage Christian School.

And the merciless, soul-less automaton of cultish Churchianity named Tim England - the principal of Heritage Christian - gave Our Hero an ultimatum: deny your girlfriend her senior prom or you don't walk with the other graduates.

Heritage Christian School bans dancing, hand-holding, "rock music" (whatever that means these days), and basically anything else that was verboten in the days of Puritan extremists. And this doesn't mean just on school grounds but everywhere the students might happen to be.

Frost had to get a form signed by England so that he could be a guest at Findlay High School's prom. England signed the form, then told Frost that he would be suspended for the rest of the year if he went.

So what did Tyler Frost do?

He took his girlfriend to her prom.

Behold the photograph of the beautiful young couple, holding hands and having what Frost called a "great" time!

(Photo credit: KENT TARBOX/ The Courier/AP)

Tyler Frost chose to sacrifice graduation with his classmates (a group that was only going to number four students anyway) so that he could have memories of a wonderful night that would last him and his girlfriend the rest of their lives.

Tyler Frost chose to put the happiness of the one that he loves over the ridiculous and non-biblical rules of Heritage Christian School.

And in doing so, Tyler Frost, as his principal Tim England put it: "In life, we constantly make decisions whether we are going to please self or please God. (Frost) chose one path, and the school committee chose the other." Frost is now suspended, as England had threatened.

But you know what? I think it's very obvious who in this situation is pleasing "self", and who is pleasing God.

We are told in all four Gospels that one of the biggest reasons why the Pharisees sought to have Jesus killed was because He broke "the rules". Jesus healed the sick and lame on the Sabbath, and because He violated "the law" that was enough motivation for His enemies to want to see Him dead.

Someone in the previous post commented an extremely powerful point: "If his girlfriend were in a car accident and lay dying, would Heritage Christian School expel Tyler because he chose to hold her hand in loving compassion?"

Hey, according to "the law" of Heritage Christian School, it would have to expel Tyler or any other student who committed such an act of sympathy... because they broke "the rules" and according to Heritage Christian and Calvary Baptist Church that runs it, such a student would have to suffer the penalty for it.

Tim England and the "school committee" of this so-called "Christian" school are completely ignorant of the fact that the penalty has already been paid for... by the very One that they profess to be followers of!

Jesus came to do away with the rule of law, which had enslaved mankind to ritual and empty "religion". He died so that we might instead live under the rule of love!

And it is love which is completely absent from the actions of Tim England, Heritage Christian School and Calvary Baptist Church of Findlay, Ohio.

Tyler Frost chose to honor Christ in his actions, though he may not realize yet how much so.

And Tim England, his school and his church have chosen to serve themselves!

Mr. England and Calvary Baptist Church turned their stone-cold hearts to glorifying their own understanding (didn't they ever read Proverbs 3:5?). They put the demands of their doctrine above humility and prayer.

Tim England and Calvary Baptist chose to worship their own church... and they are proud to be persecuting Tyler Frost for it.

These people are not practicing Christianity. They are practicing Churchianity.

Look at this picture. Here is Tim England, the principal of Heritage Christian School...

See those heartless, pitiless eyes? I have seen such men too damned many times in my life. That is the look of a man who has no grasp at all of the mercy of Christ... and he probably doesn't want to understand it either. That's the visage of a man who demands that "the rules" be followed without exception, because in his mind that is how "God" is pleased.

"Christians" such as these are the sort that turned on the gas at Bergen-Belsen and then went home to dinner.

Tim England and Calvary Baptist are of the same mindset as the Pharisees that demanded Christ be put to death.

These self-professed "leaders" and "authorities" have set themselves up in the place of God. They and countless more like them across the centuries have caused more suffering and misery to the body of Christ than have the combined efforts of such persecutors as Nero and Stalin.

I will not hate them. But I have no sympathy for such people as these. They are not of Christ, and it's way past time that they be recognized and called out for what they are.

I'm not asking anyone else to hate them either. But I am gonna do everything I can to speak the plain truth...

...that Christ's sacrifice tore the temple curtain in two. People like Tim England are trying to put that curtain back up.

And we as followers of Christ have no business at all following the lead of such "authorities" as Tim England and the leadership of Calvary Baptist Church.

Should we, as followers of Christ, rebel against people like Tim England, Calvary Baptist Church and anyone else who dares lord over us in the name of Christ?

HELL YEAH WE SHOULD!

And people like England oughtta study 1st Corinthians more, if they are going to be in the business of running a "Christian" school.

As for Tyler Frost: my hat's off to ya, good sir! You've already done more with the heart and mind that God gave ya than a lot of people ever do. And so far as this blogger's concerned: you, Tyler Frost, are a real Christian leader!

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So you want some more STAR TREK, do ya?

I honestly can not remember the last time I have seen this many people so jazzed about a movie as is happening right now with Star Trek. It's like a kind of magic that we had taken for granted in summer blockbusters had gotten lost somehow, and now it's been found again. If you haven't already you seriously owe it to yourself to see Star Trek the way it's meant to be viewed: in a crowded theater with a wide variety of people who have no idea what a thrill they are in for.

(By the way, my good friend Phillip Arthur has just served up his own rave review of Star Trek. And here's the review by Yours Truly :-)

And if you've seen Star Trek and are dying for more of this relaunched saga, then I'll strongly recommend Star Trek: Countdown, IDW Publishing's official graphic novel prequel to the new motion picture. With a story provided by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (who scribed the Star Trek screenplay), Star Trek: Countdown reveals the origin of Nero and the chain of events that bleed into the movie. It also very deftly ties together the "classic" Star Trek timeline with the one established by J.J. Abrams' reboot (I especially like the explanation for how the Narada is so overwhelmingly powerful a ship for what is supposed to be a simple "mining vessel"). How good is Star Trek: Countdown? Let's put it this way: on some levels it darn nearly redeems the fiasco that was Star Trek Nemesis.

Star Trek: Countdown should be available at most good bookstores right now, and it's also available on Amazon.com, including in that newfangled "Kindle" format. However you get it (legally 'course), it's a rollickin' good helping of dessert after the spectacular feast that is the new Star Trek movie!

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The Transformers are 25 years old!

The good crew at Seibertron.com have made note that this is a special weekend for Transformers fans. It was twenty-five years ago yesterday, on May 8th 1984 that The Transformers issue #1 was published by Marvel Comics.

It was the first product ever released for the Transformers franchise.

A quarter-century later with bajillions of toys sold, not to mention multiple television series and comic books and video games and a third motion picture arriving in theaters later next month, well... hard to believe it all started with a seventy-five cents comic book, eh?

Happy Birthday Transformers! And to quote that old Cybertronian proverb: "May your luster never dull and your wires never cross."

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Control-freak Christian principal threatens student with suspension if he takes girlfriend to prom

17-year-old Tyler Frost attends Heritage Christian School in Findlay, Ohio. Frost's girlfriend is a student at Findlay High School. Tomorrow night is going to be the prom at Findlay High.

But Tim England, who happens to be Frost's principal, is commanding Frost not to take his girlfriend to her prom. Because Heritage Christian School forbids dancing, rock music, hand-holding and kissing and insists that it has the right to demand obedience to its proscriptions far beyond its own hallways.

If he does take his girlfriend to her prom, Tyler Frost will be hit with an academic suspension and won't be allowed to walk with the other graduates when he gets his diploma in a few weeks.

Here's the full story.

Tyler Frost, if you're reading this, here's my advice: take your girlfriend to her prom, don't take any worries with you, and enjoy a night that you will remember for the rest of your life.

And I say this as your brother in Christ: to HELL with what that legalist lunatic Tim England wants you to do! Tomorrow night belongs to you and your girlfriend and if Mr. England does truly consider you to be a fellow worker in the Lord, he shouldn't even be trying to watch over the lives of you and the other Heritage Christian students like a busybody with nothing else to do.

Here's the website of Heritage Christian School and look! They've even put out a press release of sorts...

As you probably already know, Heritage has received a lot of local and regional attention today. If you don’t know what I am talking about, you can read the article in today’s courier (www.thecourier.com Read “Don’t go to the prom…”). My guess is that many of you were bombarded at work with questions and statements. In fact, I have had e-mails this morning telling me that great opportunities to give the gospel have taken place. I believe I ought to address the situation.

First, the article in the Courier is fairly accurate. What the article leaves out are the principles behind the rules. In the Old Testament, Joseph was in a place of temptation and he fled. Unlike this situation, he didn’t put himself in that place. Proverbs 4:23 says, “Keep your heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life.” II Timothy 2:22 says, “Flee also youthful lusts but follow after righteousness faith charity and peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.” When the school committee, many years before I became the principal, set up the policy regarding dancing, I am confident that they had the principle of fleeing lustful situations in mind. The question as I see it is, should a Christian place themselves at an event where young ladies will have low cut dresses and be dancing in them? Isn’t it contrary to the example of Joseph and the verses that I stated?

Second, at the beginning of the school year, every family must sign a statement of cooperation. Students in 7th through 12th grades must also sign it. It doesn’t say that you have to agree with them, but that we will all abide by them. What kind of a school would we be if we suspended a policy because it was convenient to do so? That would not be a Christ-like response. Jesus did not avoid trouble. He made statements such as, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me” (John 14:6). His statements didn’t make Him popular with the world. Can we expect anything else? The verses that I have thought of throughout this day are Matthew 5:11-12, “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” Wow! I can build up a whole lot of rewards in heaven today, and so can you.

Third, when discussing this particular issue with folks in the community please remember that the servant of the Lord "must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness" (2 Tim 2:24, 25).

Esther received great counsel from her uncle Mordecai when he said, “And who knoweth whether thou art come into the kingdom for such a time as this.” (Esther 4:14). This is a time for Heritage to shine as a light in this world. It isn’t easy, but it is right.

Let me tell you what I believe is going on. I took a look over the Heritage Christian site and that of Calvary Baptist Church of Findlay, Ohio. And I wasn't all that surprised, because I've seen the same thing too many times in my life. And Tim England confirms everything in this statement of his.

Tim England isn't preaching Christianity. He - and I'm assuming his church is much the same way - is demanding Churchianity.

England is making following the tenets of his religious institution more important than anything else. In other words he's insisting on rigid legalism... which is the very thing that Jesus came to Earth to free us from to begin with.

Lord have mercy on me. I don't hate these kinds of people... but I sure as heck do despise them for all the grief they cause others.

People like Tyler Frost, f'rinstance. Who is under no biblical obligation to not have a good time with his girlfriend tomorrow night. And people like Tim England would be wise to be mindful of 1st Corinthians, in which Paul reminds us that we do have liberty in Christ.

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No, I will NOT observe the "National Day of Prayer" today...

Wanna know why?

Because for one thing, as a follower of Christ, I just don't see the purpose of it.

What is the point of a nationwide "prayer holiday", if we are already to seek after Christ with all our hearts? In 1st Thessalonians, chapter 5 we are instructed to "Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (verses 16-18).

Maybe it's just me, but holding up a single day out of the year to spend in prayer smacks too much of being an excuse to not have to pray as much or as sincerely the rest of the time.

And why attempt a "mass prayer" at all? We are told that not even one sparrow "is forgotten by God" if it falls to the ground (Luke 12:6). Certainly our Father then will hear even the smallest prayer of the very least of His children. Putting our prayers together as collective force will not compel Him to hear us any clearer.

And then... what precisely are we supposed to be praying about, on this day of all days?

Here is what some Christians have declared they will be bringing up in prayer. From the Detroit Free Press...

We ... proudly call ourselves a Christian nation," the Rev. Terry Frazier, pastor of Liberty Foursquare Church in Warren, told a crowd of hundreds gathered at Warren City Hall. "Restore the ability for Bibles to be used in our classroom again. ... And may our nation declare that Jesus Christ is Lord."

There is so much wrong with what Rev. Frazier is saying here, that I don't know where to begin.

And from the National Day of Prayer Task Force (a "task force" on prayer?!)...

The National Day of Prayer Task Force's mission is to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, mobilizing the Christian community to intercede for America and its leadership in the seven centers of power: Government, Military, Media, Business, Education, Church and Family.

My friends, this is why I cannot, as a matter of personal conscience, partake or approve of the "National Day of Prayer".

I know how it started. Once upon a time, it was meant as a sincere appeal to God for mercy. Here's the text of President Abraham Lincoln's proclamation of a national day of prayer, delivered on March 30th, 1863...

Whereas, the Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and just Government of Almighty God, in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation.

And whereas it is the duty of nations as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions, in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.

And, insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment, inflicted upon us, for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole People? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th. day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the People to abstain, on that day, from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping the day holy to the Lord, and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high, and answered with blessings, no less than the pardon of our national sins, and the restoration of our now divided and suffering Country, to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

I hope y'all will have noticed the words that I have highlighted in Lincoln's text... because you'll be hard-pressed to find anything like them in today's appeals for "national prayer" as abundantly or prominently.

Whatever happened to humility?

Why does it seem like somewhere along the way, it became "wrong" to acknowledge that yes, we are weak?

And how dare we petition God for His favor when we hawk our own arrogance and pride?

Because, let's be honest about what the "National Day of Prayer" has become. It's no longer a day about petitioning God for the right reasons.

It's become about demanding that He actively interfere in the world, per our own understanding.

(There's something about that in Proverbs 3:5, if you wanna look it up.)

Why am I not going to participate in the National Day of Prayer?

Because honestly, I don't believe it's going to do any good.

I've no doubt that there is correlation between how corrupt America has become, and how many of those among her people who profess to follow Christ have refused to be penitent and humble. How we have for the most part neglected to remember that the first requisite of sincere prayer is to acknowledge our place before the Lord.

We have forgotten how to ask that His will be done, not our own.

I don't believe God will heed the prayers directed by the "National Day of Prayer Task Force". Because they and far too many others are presuming to have a wisdom that is NOT theirs.

I don't want to see a "National Day of Prayer" ever again. Not as it is being encouraged and promoted. America does not need that.

What America does need, is a National Day of REPENTANCE.

It is way past time for the Christians of this land to get off their high horse and examine their own conscience, lowering themselves into the proverbial ashes and sackcloth (whether figuratively or literally should be left as a personal choice). And not as a collective effort by an organized mob either, but instead that we should encourage this of each other as individuals.

Because, folks, there is no "Christian nation" without there being Christ at work within us to begin with. And for His glory, not that of our own.

It could very well be that God has removed His guiding hand from this country because we have removed His hand from our hearts.

Perhaps if those of us who claim to follow Him might stop trying to make others yield to us and instead we yield to Him first, we might begin to see that turn toward the better that many are no doubt earnestly praying for today.

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Chris reviews STAR TREK and declares it's the prequel that STAR WARS EPISODE I should have been!

Bow before Bad Robot.

J.J. Abrams and his production powerhouse have of late become a nigh-unstoppable engine of entertainment excellence. With hit ABC television series Lost winding down its penultimate season, newcomer Fringe heading into its sophomore year on Fox and 2008's Cloverfield almost certain to succeed as a franchise in its own right, Abrams' crew can seemingly do no wrong. That is, if they had kept on playing it safe...

...because let's face it: to accept the challenge of not only taking charge of the Star Trek brand name, but to make it actually exciting again for the average person, is certainly tempting the fates if not the hordes of die-hard Trekkies.

The last time I had seen a Star Trek movie, it was December 2002. I was waiting for the midnight premiere of The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. My ticket was in hand, and for whatever reason I arrived hours early. The nice ladies running the small cinema said that I didn't have to wait out in the cold rain: "Come on in and watch a movie on us!", they insisted. So Star Trek Nemesis was about to play. I was the only one in the theater. I never paid to see Star Trek Nemesis and almost seven years later you couldn't pay me to see it again either.

Star Trek had become a bloated whore. A depleted cow. A field left barren and waste of life-giving nutrient. At times I watched Star Trek: Enterprise and tried, really tried, to care anymore about something that I had only a fleeting appreciation for to begin with. At its best, Star Trek was always capable of producing genuinely remarkable storytelling, like Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (high on the list of my all-time favorite movies, incidentally). But after Nemesis and Enterprise I had become content to let the good memories endure, even while doubting that Star Trek could ever again burn as brilliant.

A few years ago I heard about J.J. Abrams being given his shot at directing a Star Trek film. Last year came the teaser attached to Cloverfield and for the first time in over a decade I felt a tinge of giddiness about the franchise. By the time the final trailer came out, I'd heard enough good about what Abrams, writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were doing that it compelled me to vow to do something I had never done before in my entire life: see a Star Trek movie on its opening day.

Well folks, I just got out a few hours ago from catching the first showing of Star Trek at the Palladium in High Point and I darn well plan to see this at least two or three more times over the next few weeks, if not a hella lot more than that! Star Trek is not just the Star Trek movie that we've always wanted to see but never thought we would ever get: it surpasses everything that a solid summer blockbuster is meant to be!

Heck, I'm gonna have to see it at least once more, just to fully "take in" the entire sheer glorious spectacle of it all.

Let me put it this way, and I don't say it lightly: ten years ago this month, a lot of us were lining up to see Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Remember leaving the theater after seeing it, and how many of us were like "Wow ummm... yeah... it was kinda good, uhhh...", trying to convince ourselves that all those years of waiting for a new Star Wars movie had paid off, only to be met with committee meetings and Jar-Jar Binks?

Well, Star Trek is the prequel movie that Star Wars Episode I could have, should have, ought to have been!

(Feel free to comment on whatever observations you've inferred that I'm making here.)

With Star Trek, Paramount has finally done what it should have done a long time ago: turn some new blood loose on its biggest in-house legendarium to prove what Star Trek can really do once it's off the chain. That's evident early in Star Trek, first with the gnarliest space battle seen thus far in the history of the franchise and then a scene featuring something you never, ever would have expected to hear in a Star Trek production: "Sabotage" by the Beastie Boys. Truly, this is not your father's Final Frontier...

...and yet, it still is. Orci and Kurtzman's story is exceedingly faithful to the original premise and setting of Star Trek, even while slaughtering sacred cows wholesale and serving them up like so many White Castle burgers. It's widely known even among those who haven't seen it that Star Trek reboots the franchise with that "good ol' standby" of reset buttons: Time Travel(tm). The setup begins in the very first moments of Star Trek, as a Romulan ship armed to the teeth with mega-advanced weaponry shows up in the wrong place and even wronger time: namely, Federation space and the twenty-third century.

That wasn't supposed to happen, but nobody knows it... yet anyway. The Romulan vessel opens fire on the Federation starship Kelvin, and First Officer George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth) assumes command and orders everyone to abandon ship. His wife Winona had just gone into labor and is forced to give birth aboard an outgoing shuttlecraft. The last thing George Kirk hears before his kamikaze plunge into the Romulan Narada is the crying of his newborn son James Tiberius over the ship's radio.

Twenty-two years later we find a teenage James T. Kirk (played by Chris Pine). An untamed spirit running wild on the great high plains of Iowa, riding his motorcycle and guzzling beer (apparently Budweiser and Miller are still around 300 years from now, along with Nokia: Star Trek's product placement might rival Blade Runner's). Kirk's youth is juxtaposed with that of Spock (Zachary Quinto, AKA Sylar from Heroes), intensely training his logical mind on Vulcan while also weighing his human nature against himself as much as against the culture of his home world. Back on Earth, a pep talk following a bar fight has Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood) reminding Kirk of the sacrifice his father made so that he and 800 others could live. "I dare you to do better," Pike challenges Kirk. The next day Kirk enlists in Starfleet, and heads off to the Academy alongside physician Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban), who's entering Starfleet because he had nowhere else to go after his ex-wife left him with nothing but "bones".

From that point on, Star Trek re-introduces us to the classic characters from the original series while throwing wide-open the shiny new canvas of the relaunched timeline. We finally get to see how Kirk beat the "unwinnable" Kobayashi Maru, his personal "up yours" to the Academy that throws him into his first-ever meeting with the man who programmed the scenario: Spock (and it's not a pleasant one). But that "special commendation" that we knew he earned for his creativity? That don't quite happen in this new chronology, because a distress call soon comes in from Vulcan that sends all Starfleet personnel scrambling: the Narada has returned. And its captain, Nero (Eric Bana), is not happy.

I'm not gonna say anything else about the story, 'cuz Star Trek, at the risk of being punny, does boldly go into places that have never been approached in the more than forty years since the original television series began. Everything has been lavished onto Star Trek: the biggest effects budget in franchise history, the ballsiest plot twists and... some may disagree with me for saying this, but already this is the best cast of actors since the original show. Chris Pine is growing on me a lot as the newly-minted James T. Kirk: he's brash and lusty (wouldn't be proper Star Trek without Kirk trying to nail at least one hot alien vixen would it?) but he's also learning how to curb his passion with experience and wisdom. The chemistry between he and Zachary Quinto's Spock is going to make for a terrific dynamic as this new series unfolds. And Quinto... well, trust me: the guy is born to be Spock. Zoe Saldana's portrayal of Uhura came across as a little too sexy for me, but she shines so much in every other aspect, I can overlook it. Anton Yelchin is a riot as young Pavel Chekov: even the Enterprise computer can barely understand his Russian-mangled English speech, but the kid pulls his weight and then some. John Cho's incarnation of Sulu is probably the most action-oriented we've seen the character in Trek history: wait 'til you see that wicked sword he uses on the Romulan drill platform (for my money it'll beat a Klingon bat'leth any day). And Simon Pegg as Scotty: he comes in later on in the movie, but he lights up every scene he's in. There will be a healthy demand for him to be given more screen time in the next movie.

But there are three actors that I believe are especially worthy of praise for what they bring to Star Trek. Eric Bana's Nero is absolutely the greatest villain that Star Trek has had since Khan all the way back in 1982. Nero isn't really an evil person so much as a grieving man who has become obsessed with avenging a terrible personal loss. Unfortunately he also winds up with technology that's much too powerful for his or anyone else's own good: not the best of combinations. He doesn't "lord it over" and chew up the scenery like Khan and the Borg Queen did, but Bana's Nero is still powerful in his own right. I think he'll end up rating high on the all-time list of Trek baddies.

Then there is Karl Urban. It's positively freaky how much it's like he's channeling DeForrest Kelley's spirit. He's got the voice, the attitude... heck even the look down pat.

And then there is Leonard Nimoy, back as the original Spock, or Spock Prime or whatever you want to call him. The very first time we see Nimoy back in action (literally), the entire theater roared with cheers. I can't even remember that happening when Yoda made his first appearance in The Phantom Menace. And Nimoy's Spock is no mere cameo either: he is at the heart of what has gone wrong in the creation of this new "alternate reality". Consequently, the older Spock is the bridge between this new reality and the original. Don't chuck out your Star Trek TV and movie DVDs out: they still "happened", but "that was another life" as one character says. Lord willing, we'll see Nimoy as Spock again in future installments.

I love, love, love the score that Michael Giacchino has composed for Star Trek. It's something entirely fresh (with the exception of reprising the original television series' theme music for the end credits) but its vibe is perfectly Trek-ish. Wouldn't surprise me if Giacchino's score for this film wound up as much a fan favorite as was James Horner's for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

And...

I don't know what else to say folks.

So help me, I am actually stoked about Star Trek again.

That is something I thought would never happen and for that, I will gladly thank J.J. Abrams and his compatriots again for the work they have done by buying at least one more ticket for Star Trek. And I'll do my darndest to encourage everyone else to catch this movie during its first run. Don't wait for the DVD or Blu-ray, folks. This is a movie you owe it to yourself to see in a crowded theater. There are thrills, there are laughs, and there is quite a bit of genuine emotion.

Go watch Star Trek and see if you don't connect with these much beloved characters again... for the first time.

Star Trek is back! May it live long and prosper :-)

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Back from STAR TREK

And I'm already working on a full review. But that's not what this blog post is about...

The premiere of the movie tonight turned out to be a fitting occasion for me to take my first steps into the larger world of mobile telecommunications. So this evening, before and after the movie, I was doing my first real Twitter-ing from "out in the field", along with status updates to my Facebook page. Including some photos that I took with the built-in camera on my new phone. I'll admit that I have been a bit intimidated by all the procedure that I had thought was needed to do stuff like this... but it turned out to be as easy as anything! I'll likely be doing lots more of this remote Twittering/blogging in the future.

Anyhoo, while I work on the review, click on my Twitter feed for a taste of the craziness that happened during tonight's premiere of Star Trek!

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Government STEALING private land for United 93 memorial

This blog commented about the issue a little over four months ago: how some of the families of passengers aboard United Airlines Flight 93 were petitioning the federal government (and then-President George W. Bush in particular) to seize private property by eminent domain so as to have a memorial to those who died in the 9/11 attack.

Well, those families are getting what they wanted: the federal government is about to CONDEMN land from seven owners so as to build a 2,200 acre "memorial site", and it's planning to rush the proceedings through so that the thing can be ready in time for the tenth anniversary of the hijackings.

I'll probably draw some flack for asking this aloud, but: what the HELL did those innocent people who died on United 93 actually DIE for, if the American government is now STEALING private property?

This is an act of brutal socialism: using force of government to take from those who own a thing, so as to benefit what will number a relatively few.

And I'll go ahead and say this too: this is exactly the kind of thing that the very same Islamic extremists who launched the 9/11 attacks have been doing for centuries to the shrines of other religions: declaring them to be "Islamic holy sites" and denying access to them by those of other faiths. If you own land, all the United States government now has to do is declare it a "historic place" and it can now take it from you.

I said a few months ago: the appropriate use of the land is to let the owners do with it as they see fit. That if "they" seriously "hate us for our freedoms" then let's insult them and show our resolve by displaying 2,200 acres of capitalism at work.

(And as I also said before, isn't 2,200 acres way too much for a memorial anyway?)

There is a right way to honor the lives of those who died on United 93. This is not the way to do that. In fact, what the government is doing in their name is shameful and disgusting. And I hope and pray to God that the rightful owners of the land fight this all the way.

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