Normally I don't shamelessly lift trinkets from other people's blogs. But considering I recently called Michael Dukakis the "former mayor of Massachusetts" in a news brief that landed on thousands of people's doorsteps, well, here's an exception.

This comes through my buddy Dave, and was originally on Wonkette. It's an even better news brief than mine, from WaPo:





Now, read the correction:

"A Jan. 14 Nation in Brief item incorrectly identified the organization led by Isaac Newton Farris Jr. as the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonsocial Violent Change. The organization’s name is the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change."


(Dave, by the way, just moved to London from NYC a couple of weeks ago and he's already using words like "favourite" and "theatre." He's like the Madonna of bloggers.)


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In other riveting news I caught "Friends of God" last night, that new HBO doc on Evangelical Christians by Alexandra Pelosi, youngest daughter of the Speaker, who filmed "Journeys with George" on the 2000 campaign trail.

I liked "Journeys with George," but "Friends" was lame.

Pelosi did get some cool disturbing footage of certifiable Jesus freaks: WWE-style wrestling for Jesus (Amen!), stand-up comedy for Jesus (not-funny!), kids' sing-alongs refuting evolution ("a gift from God were these sauropods!" or something like that. eesh.) Basically, more "there's no way I actually live in the same effing country as these people" footage.

But it didn't go anywhere. It didn't shed any (divine) light. It didn't arrive at any conclusion. It just sort of ... ran out.

Wait, you mean Jerry Falwell's a bigot and he's taken a flamethrower to separation of church and state? No way, I never heard that! Thanks!

I think what really bugged me - and Nameless pointed this out - is that Pelosi's so frickin condescending as she interviews these Evangelicals out in the styx.

Are they nuts? Certifiable. But I wish someone would explain to Pelosi that while your sources don't necessarily deserve your respect, the process certainly does.

So don't ask, "You mean you go to this church EVERY WEEK??" Or belt out "We definitely don't have this in New York!" I prefer to keep my ridicule focused on the right-wing nutjobs, not the self-absorbed documentarian please.

Pelosi asks this teenage girl why she believes in creationism, and the girl says people who embrace evolution don't have their facts straight. It's laughable, but a quick opportunity to ask some interesting questions and draw a better understanding of how the brainwashed kid arrived at this.

Instead, Pelosi responds, "I believe in evolution. Are you saying you don't think I got a good education?"

Jeez. It just came across really smug, even if she didn't mean it that way. (Acc'd to Wikipedia, Pelosi graduated from SC's Annenberg School. I looked it up.) And if you've got me even momentarily siding with a nutjob creationist, then congratulations: Your documentary on the dark underbelly of the Evangelical movement has failed miserably. Thanks, Pelosi.

I dunno. Yeah I'm being hard on her. Maybe it's because I make a living asking questions, and would have jumped to have made this better. You don't want to be soft on people, but you don't openly ridicule them either. I guess. Right? Wait till you're wasted on Saturday night for that, that's my motto.

Now this is an HBO doc I can't frickin wait to see, seriously.


If you'll excuse me, I have to go call Mayor Dukakis.