It lasted for 20 years and was nearly the longest running prime time show ever except for the venerable Gunsmoke. Now comes the word that Law and Order has been cancelled.

In response, Instapundit made the following observation:

“IT MOVED LEFT, HEMORRHAGED VIEWERS, and now Law & Order has been cancelled.”

I personally stopped watching the show for that very reason. It became a trite presentation of the latest leftist cause de jour. They portrayed conservatives as bad, religionists worse, and politicians on the right the very worst—week after week. Only the quality of the show kept middle America from deserting it sooner.            *Top

<<Read about it on my main page>>

Review by Dana Chaffin

Amish Grace will air Sunday March, 28, 2010 on Lifetime Movie Network (LMN) at 8 pm ET.  This movie is a touching story based on true events of tragedy, faith, and forgiveness.  An Amish community endured a great tragedy, but they never lost faith.  The scenes of prayer, faith, and forgiveness are outstanding.

     Amish Grace the movie is based on the book Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy by Donald B. Kraybill, Steven M. Nolt, and David L. Weaver-Zercher.  On October 2, 2006 at an Amish community schoolhouse in Nickel Mines, Pennsylvania a disturbed man upsets the peaceful community.  He enters the one room schoolhouse shooting 10 young girls, killing 5 and critically injuring the other 5 girls before killing himself.  This movie does not concentrate on the murders, but more so about the unbelievable forgiveness offered by the Amish community.  Immediately after the community was turned upside down, Amish leaders go to the home of the shooter offering forgiveness and compassion to his widow.  Even the father of one of the deceased girls offers comfort to the widow.  The movie highlights facts of the actual events that caught national media attention.  The incredible cast includes stars like: Kimberly Williams-Paisley (According to Jim, Father of the Bride) and Matt Letscher (Medium, Brothers & Sisters, Boston Legal).

Amish Grace is extremely inspirational and illustrates that faith can overcome even the most tragic circumstances.  Luke 6:37 says, “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.”  As Christians we are to forgive, even our enemies.  There is a lot to learn from the forgiveness in this film.  This is an emotional movie so be sure to have plenty of tissues.

     You can find out more about the book, print a study guide, find forgiveness resources, and more at www.amishgrace.com.

Amish Grace airs Sunday March 28, 2010 on LMN at 8pm ET. Go to www.mylifetime.com to watch the movie trailer and read more about the movie.             *Top

In this episode an American military family was shown to be guilty of trying to force their Muslim convert son/brother to drop Islam. In the end it turned out to be his own brother who had killed the Muslim officer because he had ‘dishonored’ the family with his conversion to Islam and his refusal to recant.

I totally missed the irony of this story line.   <<Read the rest on the Main AFTF blog>>

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After all, Muslims are the new favorite PC protected class in America and all the ‘propaganda’ that seems to run counter to that dictum in real life must be challenged in the fictitious world of Hollywood.  <<Read the rest on the AFTF Main page>>            *Top

“Season 7 of 24 continues to rejuvenate the hit series by successfully mixing lots of new elements while still keeping true to the original formula. The producers of 24 recognized they needed a big change after the fiasco of Season 6, …”

<<Read the complete article>>            *Top

Normally, a DVD would have been offered in January for the miniseries, four months after its showing. However, there are currently no plans for its release, and a top ABC executive revealed privately that “if Hillary weren’t running for president, this wouldn’t be a problem.”      < -Continue the rest of the story on the main page->

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This was a very slick and well produced piece of film making. Good camera work and editing with built in suspense at the commercial breaks, and 2 hours of well written script sustained by great graphics and realistic dramatization. There was a lot of money put into this work and it really showed. Normally 2 hours would be a bit much for a documentary of this nature, but these film makers are among the best and interest is maintained to the very end.

Now for the bad news, and I do believe that this production was bad news. So far I haven’t found one archaeologist or early Christian scholar who believes that this might really be a tomb of the famous Jesus family. On camera they present experts which seem to support some of their contentions, but they have merely edited out most of their negative comments.
Cameron and Jacobovici present their case with incredible graphics and impressive dramatization and all the ‘evidence’ seems so compelling. However, they only present evidence which seems to support their theories; they never present any of the overwhelming evidence against them. Can this work really be called a ‘documentary’? Usually documentaries loosely follow some of the basic rules of investigative journalism, this work doesn’t. This is really more of a ‘docu-drama’.

This work is a one-sided affair which uses dramatization to support some supposed ‘facts’ while leaving out important information which would diminish the effect. For example: They present Mary Magdalene as an ‘Apostle’ and a ‘Master’ and show a short drama with her preaching and ministering. All the while they are citing the ‘Acts of Phillip’ as the primary source.

They do not tell their viewers that the ‘Acts of Phillip’ was a late Gnostic work of the late 3rd or even early 4th century that reflects the Gnostic movement of the 3rd century rather than on any historical facts or real characters of the 1st century. Nor do they relay to the audience that most scholars believe that the Mariamene in that work is probably referring to Phillips sister and not Mary Magdalene.

That is just one example of the many important facts that were left out. In addition, the docu-drama was full of outright speculations which have no real basis in historical fact. There was more drama and fantasy in this supposed documentary than actual archaeology.

For a detailed exploration of some of the problems and inaccuracies see: The three posts on Ben Witherington’s Blog.

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The President is a trader to his own kind and a resistance has risen to the occasion.  Col. Tye is in charge of the underground and continues to show his usual poor judgment.  He allowed and supported suicide bombing.  His own wife turns out to be a trader in order to keep him alive.  The Cylons beat him up and took one of his eyes and threatened to kill him if she did not spy for them.

The Cylons round up all the human leaders and bus them out to the country.  The plan is to massacre them all, ala the Nazis.  But their plans are disrupted by the resistance and the coming of a rescue force from the Gallactica.  The surprise attack succeeds and the humans are able to leave the Cylons behind.

The next episode, the colonial folks are trying to deal with those who were the traders and also in the process are discovering that it is real hard to turn back the clock and begin again.  The school teacher once more becomes President and once again they head for Earth.

Latest 11/10:  The Colonials discover a Cylon Base ship that has been wiped out by a plague of some sort.  They discover an antidote but are tempted to try to infect and wipe out the entire Cylon race.  The Admiral does not like the idea but surprisingly the school teacher President orders the attempt which fails.  The moral questions that they deal with on this show keep me aboard and interested.  Not your everyday TV pleasure cruise for sure.

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