Yellow Legged Honeycreeper via MrClean1982. Gorgeous!

Color me intrigued by the potential of this film in asking really important questions about life and internal debates.  And possibly shedding some needed light on a very shrouded religious sect’s history:

The project was initiated by a member of Opus Dei, is partly produced and financed by the group’s members and has enlisted an Opus Dei priest to consult on the set. News of the project has set off criticism among some former Opus Dei members that the movie will be little more than propaganda for the organization. But Mr. Joffé, in the first interview he has given about the film, said that he had been given complete creative control and that Opus Dei never had any influence on the project.

He ditched the script he was originally given, he said, because he did not want to make what he called a “biopic” about Escrivá’s life. But, he added, he was intrigued by Escrivá’s ideas about the power of forgiveness and the capacity of every human being for sainthood. Opus Dei — the name is Latin for work of God — teaches that ordinary work can be a path to sanctity if the believer maintains a demanding regimen of religious practices intended to achieve holiness.

And yet? I’m skeptical about the "full creative control" from financial backers.

Does that smack of set up for contrived public protest and victimhood if the film isn’t sufficiently reverential of its subject to anyone else?

Anyone heard anything about this film? 

I loved the shades of gray and bleak honesty of Joffe’s prior work in "The Killing Fields."  Would love to see some of that on this subject matter, good or ill, as well.

Jane said it all here, but I’m risking a repeat:

Boy, does this sound familiar:

While conservatives say they know they have little chance of defeating Mr. Obama’s choice because Democrats control the Senate, they say they hope to mount a fight that could help refill depleted coffers and galvanize a movement demoralized by Republican electoral defeats.

“It’s an immense opportunity to build the conservative movement and identify the troops out there,” said Richard A. Viguerie, a conservative fund-raiser. “It’s a massive teaching moment for America. We’ve got the packages written. We’re waiting right now to put a name in.”

That’s exactly what NARAL did when Sandra Day O’Connor retired…

And when NARAL and others pulled their penny ante sideshow wimpery? We called them on it, day in and day out, for months on end. And took heaps of shit from Beltway insiders for being publicly honest about what everyone knew was privately going on: milk the base and cynically rebuild the coffers for the next election cycle PR, while doing nothing substantive about judicial nominees whose philosophies honestly threaten choice.

What are right wing bloggers and pundits doing about their version of frothing, fundraising hackery?

Playing along and hoping to reap some payback reward out of their lockstep shilling for the moneyed few.  Some of them enjoying it far too much, frankly. (more…)

Barf detergent via crowleb.

Unctuous doesn’t begin to describe Newt Gingrich’s "serious look" at a 2012 presidential run. 

Isn’t that a fine "how do you do" to return to from a nice vacation:

The Republican defeats in the last two election cycles have presented an opportunity for Gingrich to return to prominence, noted more than one Republican strategist.

"Since Republicans don’t hold power, there’s a void of leadership," said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist. "And Newt Gingrich is trying to take advantage of this opportunity as much as possible and try to assert himself as one of the leading voices of the Republican Party."

…That could include, the strategist said, the possibility running for president in 2012.

I don’t care what sort of convenient "wipe myself clean with the spirit of the Lord" conversion Newt Gingrich claims to have made just before the next election cycle.

There is no stain remover strong enough to get rid of his self-inflicted pit stains. None.

Or am I the only person cynical enough to see the "Catholicism as slate cleaning by proxy" presser in the offing? I can already hear the Newtie line:

The Lord has blessed me with my lovely third wife and family, and has forgiven me my sins. I only hope that the American public can do the same, although I don’t deserve it. **insert penitent glance here**  I only want to serve my country in the best way that I know how. And if the Lord sees fit to bless me in that way, I’ll devote everything I have to more discreet affairs more profitable ethics violations working hard for all of us.

Sickening, yet plausible.  Gingrich already went on the record saying that 2008 presidential hopefuls shouldn’t have their private lives looked at during the campaign. Preemptive strike, anyone?

Seriously, anyone think that Gingrich would be above using whatever is handy, including Jesus, as his personal media shield and PR ploy? Didn’t we already see this from Jimmy Swaggart anyway?

Tell me I’m wrong. Please.

Because if Gingrich’s past is prologue, we are in for one helluva kabuki drama.  Because, as everyone ought to know by now, Newt really is only in it for Newt.

There is no back he will not stab, especially for PR purposes. None. Including the entire American public if it will get him what he wants for himself.

Then again, some media folks are stupid enough to buy his schtick…so all bets are off. It’s the stake that never gets planted in the Village of the Politically Never-Ending Undead. Ugh.

Sunset at Manhatten Beach via szeke. Gorgeous.Some thoughts on religion and politics, from folks who set things up at the start.

First, from Thomas Jefferson, from his Notes on the State of Virginia regarding religion:The error seems not sufficiently eradicated, that the operations of the mind, as well as the acts of the body, are subject to the coercion of the laws.

Sam Brownback, Catholicism concern troll, judging and then asking not to be judged for it.

Not certain it works that way, Sam. If you fundraise for Jesus based on a big, fat lie, just how many levels of blasphemy and deadly sin have you committed?

Holy roller, my ass…who died and made you Pope?