U.S.: This, that, and the other

Here's a link that a good one for folks in the Caribbean to tune in to WLSAM. That's the actual audio link. On this page, you get the choice of mp3, Windows Media, and Real Audio. I prefer mp3 cuz it comes up sweetly in iTunes. The joys of being a Mac user! Anyway, from 12-3 PM EST (11-2 CST; 1-4 PM GMT (Caribbean)) you can tune in to Rush Limbaugh. If you want a more balanced perspective on American news, politics, and the upcoming presidential election, that's the man to listen to. Apart from that, WLSAM gives you the usual liberal political view. Remember this, WLSAM comes out of Chicago, IL, where the Democrat mantra is vote early and vote often.

Um, what else? I'm busy house-cleaning. You can do these things while you're job hunting. How come I'm job hunting if I'm such a Bushie? Well, I wasn't job hunting until a couple of weeks ago cuz I was in grad school doing a PhD in Biblical Studies. I needed a break, and I needed money so I took a pause. Speaking of money, if you like the blog, please hit the till. If anybody out there knows any sugar daddies who don't want any sugar, hook me up! So, while I send out applications, await interviews, pinch pennies and do fun stuff like that, I'm blogging like mad, writing fiction (I've got some really old stuff up at Bonnitento, brushing up on my HTML, JavaScript, DreamWeaver, Flash, and looking at Java cuz I've got to develop some software to drill Koine Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and a couple of other language grammars. You want to do Biblical Studies, you must do all those languages. In fact, one of the reasons I'm eagerly anticipating the release of the DVD version of The Passion of the Christ is cuz it's in Aramaic and Latin. There are English subtitles, fer sher, but sub-titles won't be turned on.

Ah, yes, The Passion of the Christ comes out this week. The reviewers are having a field day with it; they're busy drilling Mel Gibson a new hole. It's supposed to be the bloodiest movie ever. Well, heck, of course it has to be. Crucifixion wasn't a cake walk. Though the Gospels don't tell you how much blood Christ Jesus lost, you do know that He got the crap beaten to heck out of Him. A few years back, I read a piece on scourging, how it was done, with what tools (See here, here, and here, also). From that, and taking into consideration what reviewers have said about The Passion of the Christ being bloody, I've got to conclude that maybe the movie might not be bloody enough. If you think the cat o' nine tails is bad, think what happens when the tails of the whip come equipped with metal bits designed to rip and tear flesh. Anyway, critics are blathering about Gibson having missed the point of the Gospels; it's all about love, you know. They miss the point on more than one level. The Gospels are not just about love -- meaning God's love for us; they're about redemption as a model of that love -- Christ died for us because He (God) so loved the world. Gibson's film puts teeth into "he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed." (Is 53:5) I must look at the Hebrew for "wounded, bruised, chastisement, stripes." Christians have grown excessively mealy-mouthed over the past 2000 years. We like to talk about Christ laying down His life for us, but we don't want to come to grips with the magnitude of what it means. We don't want our kids to see what it means, either. MTV is fine, but not a depiction of Christ laying down His life for us. Gibson's movie, from what I've read so far, essentially says, "cut the crap; this is how Christ paid for our redemption. This is how He laid down His life for us." We need to be reminded of that, not so we can hate or rampage and kill, but so we can turn back to the Cross with a profound sense of our unworthiness. Maybe that's what the liberal media who are screwing the film over in the reviews are afraid of -- a resurgence of Christianity.

Ah, well. Back to the vacuum cleaner.