http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/02/17/lies_damn_lies_and_the_relig Comments On: Lies, Damn Lies, and the Religious Right's Statistics by Dan Savage en-us Copyright 2009 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Tue, 24 Nov 2009 00:00:01 -0800 Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:30:00 -0800 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by MichelleZB]]> Sat, 14 Mar 2009 20:09:30 -0700 The Stranger Amerikanischer Realkultur is:

None other than among the "music shows" down Branson, MO way, replete with sugar-coated conservative propaganda messages and a blatant appeal to especially the so-called "Fundamentals of the Economy" that conservative propaganda just loves idealising in the same stylee as Soviet-era propaganda about "hero workers" selflessly sacrificing their time for the Greater Glory of Communism (coal miner Alexy Stakhanov's exploitation towards such ends easily comes to mind).
Posted by Exaggerato]]> Thu, 19 Feb 2009 12:36:51 -0800 The Stranger
(Basically, for those that haven't read it, they live in a giant, city-sized bomb shelter underground. They grow a little bit of food somehow, but the city was stocked with everything they'd need, from canned food to light bulbs and toothpaste. When the story begins, the supplies have started to run out. Eventually--spoilers!--some kids figure out that they were supposed to leave the bomb shelter a few years previously, but the instructions for how to do so were lost.)

See, the people are living their lives based on instructions handed down to them from a time no one remembers or really understands. The adults in particular run into difficulties when those instructions no longer fit the actual circumstances of their lives.

So, sure, it makes a lot of sense that the religious right would like that movie.
Posted by A.]]> Wed, 18 Feb 2009 23:50:23 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Marlowe]]> Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:05:57 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Chronos]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:42:28 -0800 The Stranger Posted by tired]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 20:54:06 -0800 The Stranger Posted by daniel rotter]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 18:02:00 -0800 The Stranger Posted by lymerae]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:43:01 -0800 The Stranger
Well then, don't click here.

I don't know what you're afraid of, though. The review does a pretty good job of considering the religious questions raised by the film -- which makes sense, since the reviewer probably understands those questions better than a reviewer from the secular press would. Christianity Today also published a very entertaining interview with screenwriter/director John Patrick Shanley, which certainly went to places none of his other interviews went to.
Posted by ChUck]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 15:54:59 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Katherine of it All]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 14:54:30 -0800 The Stranger City of Ember. Bureaucratic nonsense ruining the lives of the people, govt.-assigned jobs, govt. waste, govt. corruption... it was like Brazil for kids.

Ted Baehr is not really worth complaining about... the less attention people give him, the faster he'll disappear.
Posted by Ryan]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 12:53:53 -0800 The Stranger
@32- What do you think angels are? That's right, Alien astronauts from the future.
Posted by dwight moody]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:35:37 -0800 The Stranger Posted by actual size]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:19:50 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Marv]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 11:01:38 -0800 The Stranger
silly ranting - lies abound in the big world from all sectors - Dan working thru disbelief in his 40 ies ... good luck
Posted by Nephi]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:58:26 -0800 The Stranger But probably will not make as much money at a speaking engagement than he will.
Posted by -B-]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:57:48 -0800 The Stranger Fly Me to the Moon and it was painfully, insultingly bad. They even got the physics wrong! You'd think that in a movie about "real" space travel (okay, it had anthropomorphic flies, but they were hitching a lift on a real space mission) they would take the opportunity to get those details right and sneak in a little educational value. But nooooo.

Aside from that, the racial and cultural stereotyping was shockingly outdated and just plain lazy. There were black flies with giant afros, the Russian flies were brutes with pointy teeth, the female characters were useless fainting idiots, and the fat fly protagonist wanted to eat all the time.

Hell, I saw it for free and I felt ripped off.

If that's the conservatives' idea of a good movie, it's no wonder they got clobbered in the last election.
Posted by breklor]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:36:01 -0800 The Stranger
Jim Burroway over at Box Turtle Bulletin caught a good one from that "gay sniper" ad you posted about the other day. Went right past me at the time, but it seems that things have gotten so out of hand now that schools don't even celebrate Father's Day anymore. Can you imagine? Schools don't even celebrate Father's Day anymore. And just never you mind that Father's Day is the third weekend in June, when most schools are out for the summer anyway...

This is how the game is played. Because fighting for morality, virtue and righteousness is more important then being trustworthy, and telling the truth.


Posted by Bruce Garrett]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:20:02 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Puty]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:13:25 -0800 The Stranger Posted by even when it's just a crummy sloped roman sans]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:10:53 -0800 The Stranger
Aha--it's the skiing/snowboarding, isn't it?
Posted by Puty]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:07:59 -0800 The Stranger P.S. Great video and nice shredding.
Posted by Vince]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:01:05 -0800 The Stranger Yeah, whatcha up to in Cowtown, Dan?
Posted by Harv]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:56:02 -0800 The Stranger Doubt. Yes, the RR will lie, cheat, steal. Remember the Rick Warren meme: "Whatever It Takes".
Posted by DanV]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:56:00 -0800 The Stranger Posted by clint]]> Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:54:56 -0800 The Stranger