When McCain announced Palin as his running mate, a lot of people had the immediate reaction that he was attempting to appeal to PUMAs and other women who had hoped to see Hillary Clinton nominated. I think it is fairly accepted by this point that the main reason Palin was picked (she doesn't seem to have been McCain's first choice) was to appeal to the conservatives, evangelicals, fundamentalists. Basically, the right-wing Christian church. As I've mentioned before, I was raised in the conservative church. My childhood was not that far off from what is portrayed in "Jesus Camp," for instance, although we were Baptist, so there was less talking in tongues and laying on of hands. Actually, there was some laying on of hands, but no talking in tongues or spirit healing or being "slain in the spirit." But I digress.

Also as I've said before, the american Church (capitalization indicates where I think the emphasis should be) is in the midst of a real crisis, of terms of identity and priorities. Any conservative Christian who studies the Bible and takes it seriously knows that racial hatred is a sin (I can back this up but will not bother to unless someone asks me to), as is advocating violence. Taking the Bible (specifically the New Testament, which contains a lot of general principles meant to apply to everyone, as opposed to the Old Testament, which contains a lot of history) literally, Christians should probably be pacifists. I don't think for one second that John McCain is a Christian (and I am not alone, hence the distrust of the conservative church), but several people in the church apparently think that Palin is. I think that if she were any sort of Christian, she would never stand for the behavior we've seen at these rallies. But I am wandering again.

The point is, this behavior is not in any way justifiable as Christian. Good money says the majority of people in the congregations in which I grew up would, or should, agree with me. At the very least, Christians should stay at home rather than vote for McCain / Palin, not because of the idiocy of their followers, but because of their unwillingness to confront what is simply "sin." I plan on getting this message out, starting with my family. Hopefully I can at least convince them to stay home on November 4th. If anyone else here has family like mine, especially in battleground states, I would recommend doing the same. As I said, I retain the vast majority of my conservative beliefs, and I will not feel the least bit guilty voting for Obama.

PS - If anyone in a position of authority in the church happens to see this letter, I hope you are speaking out against this anger and hatred. All that is necessary for evil to prevail, so on and so forth.

I have liked every Aronofsky film more than the previous one, and The Fountain is one of my favorite movies of all time. At this point he could film anything and I would watch it. I take the movie reviews here at Salon with a grain of salt, although I recognize a lot of respected critics didn't love The Fountain, but I encourage everybody who doesn't mind a slightly challenging movie to see it. It is a beautiful movie.

Also, I would be remiss not to mention that I really liked the score for the Fountain, which was written and performed (at least in part) by the tremendous band Mogwai.

Only in art and politics can you weave a successful career out of failing repeatedly. Why is Tom Wilkinson in this movie? He is a tremendous actor, and I take issue with the implication that he is boring when not playing a villian. For me, his two standout roles (and I'm aware that I am being obvious here) are "In the Bedroom" and "Michael Clayton." In both of those roles he plays good, albeit flawed characters. I notice that Madonna is now directing as well. I sure hope she financed her movie by herself, I can't imagine anyone giving her money to do anything more closely related to movies than making music videos.

I am German-American, and very pro-German. I don't see it as a contradiction that I am also anti-Nazi. You can have disagreements, even strong disagreements with how a country is run without hating the people who live there. Israel's history of troubling policies, which some have effectively argued rise to the level of human rights abuses, is well documented. Now, you may be able to argue that other things the letter-writer has said smack of anti-semitism, and you could say that characterizing the government as "murderous" is overreaching, but its not a basis for accusing of anti-semitism.

Also, I am considering picking up a new tag. My current one is a bit silly, although I like that it underscores my German heritage and my love of Cronenberg movies. Does anyone have a foolproof technique for picking solid screen names?

It's funny because just a few weeks ago over on UT, our pachyderm friend was lecturing us all about the presumption of innocence. Guess that only applies to Americans.

USA! USA! USA!