Questionable Decision: A strange adjunct to the LC immigration resolution

DirecTV subscribers in League City Texas can see a bizarre case of art echoing life on their very own TV sets right now.  Bear with me for a moment while I set the stage for context.

The debate over the League City immigrant resolution rages on, both within City Council meetings and in the press, largely in Galveston County Daily News, where the comment count is now among the highest I've ever seen.

Front of the proposed resolution.  I re-published the original text in this July 2014 post. 

The resolution's reference to Islam has long since eclipsed the original debate about whether or not to receive Latin American immigrant children in League City.  Some League City Muslims are still actively opposing the reference, but the people who support it have also been vocal.

Based on the current reporting, it doesn't seem like either side exhibits a clear majority at this point.

Screengrab courtesy Galveston County Daily News.  

It's immediately apparent from reading the GCDN comment stack that many of the resolution supporters have taken their positions out of what they perceive (rightly or wrongly) as an abundance of caution.  That stance appears to arise because many people simply don't feel like they have a reliable lens through which to discern what Islam means on a local scale.  This perspective was quoted in a GCDN piece as having been stated in a Council meeting:  “During (the public comments two weeks ago) of the individuals who spoke, representing the Muslim community, never once did I hear an allegiance to this country, to our flag, to our Constitution, to anything about the American way of life,” Russell Fielder said during the public comment portion of council to a round of applause from many on the council.  In a similar vein, one commenter on GCDN noted, "It is long past time that normal, moderate Muslims speak out against radical Islam."

What both of those communications suggest is that residents simply lack a coherent framework for parsing any of this.  What they expect or hope to see doesn't exactly match the reality that has manifested.  Thirteen years after 9/11, this is apparently where we still are socially, for reasons that I'm not sure anyone really understands.

Case in point where such confusion and discrepancy is concerned - the oddness of what's currently offered in juxtaposition on your DirecTV service: two versions of the same classic American movie, but one of these things is no longer like the other.

I'll get to the explanation in a minute.

Screengrabbed from this site.   

Executive Decision has always been one of my all-time favorite movies.  It was made 18 years ago, "back in the day" when suspense films were still built primarily on plot and character development rather than on mindless ADHD-inspired computer graphics.

The film also showcased Kurt Russell's unparalleled work ethic as an actor.

Image screengrabbed from this site.  

Not only was the film a gutsy depiction of a very difficult subject (that being "radical Islamist terror groups"), it was also noteworthy for having featured a 747 aircraft that actually was bombed by such a group, that being the following:

In 1982, a bomb was detonated on PAN AM Flight 830, resulting in the death of one minor child and the injury of 16 other people.  Despite the resulting damage, the plane was able to make a successful emergency landing in Honolulu.  The aircraft was apparently re-painted for the movie with the fictitious airliner name "Oceanic".  Either that or they just used it for interior shots.

Screengrabbed from Wikipedia.

Executive Decision was a stunning portent of 9/11 five years before it unfolded, and as far as I'm concerned, it's a creative work of national significance.  But prior to being released on Blu Ray, Executive Decision was "edited", or, some would say "censored", for reasons that are not clear.  Furthermore, I can't find a single source on the internet which describes the full extent of what was done to eviscerate the film.  Most references such as this one and user Iceboy's Amazon review primarily cite digital alterations to the imagery, including removal of certain religious references and deleted scenes.  But I believe that the most significant changes actually involved extensive dialog dubbing throughout the movie, dubbing which changes utterly the character of the film and manifests most strongly with this scene.

A suspicious glare indicating a sea change of attitude 1 hour and 24 minutes into the movie:  When the leader of the terrorist group finally reveals his plan to utilize the jet to strike a deadly blow against countless innocent American citizens, his second-in-command revolts, stating, "This has nothing to do with Islam.  This is not [the Deity's] will.  You are blinded by your hatred and I will have nothing to do with your plan."

But the same lines in the censored version are spoken very differently, indeed.

Screengrabbed from my TV set.   

The bizarre part is that, if you so desire, you can currently watch both the censored and the uncensored versions at the same time.  If this situation is of interest to you, it's an opportunity for you to compare and see for yourself what's been done to the film.

The Encore HD version is the Blu Ray version available for instant access.  The Encore Suspense ("ENCSUS") version is the original uncut version.  I recorded both versions within 24 hours of each other this past weekend.

Photo from my DirecTV list with intervening screen space eliminated for clarity.  

The resulting existential questions are as follows:

Why was the movie altered in the first place?  The original version was arguably quite responsible to Islam by forming an explicit distinction between Islam and that which has "nothing to do with Islam" but is instead driven by "[blind] hatred".  This is much the same distinction that the GCDN commenter was seeking in referring to "normal, moderate Muslims" as opposed to "radical Islam".  What benefit to understanding is derived by obscuring this essential distinction in this film or in any other context?  Clearly, we need more of that distinction, not less.

Why are Americans provided primarily with the censored version?  I can understand Warner Brothers / Warner Home Video wanting to change the tone of the movie in certain restricted distributional regions where such actions might be expected, but they only made one Blu Ray, that being the censored version.  In general terms, most Americans are probably going to default to the Blu Ray as their obvious choice (audio and video quality are both superior to the DVD). Given the age of the film, most present-day watchers may not even know that an original version of the movie exists.  In more specific terms, why am I sitting on my flat American butt in my house built on American soil accessing an American content provider streaming an American-made classic movie which has effectively been censored?!  What the hell is up with that?!

The whole thing doesn't sit well with me, and it is an example of what is working against those people who are honestly trying to put Islam into an appropriate social perspective.  "Censorship" is one of the dirtiest words we have in America, provoking immediate defensiveness and hostility in those who sense that they have encountered it.  What's been done to Executive Decision is just going to raise even more suspicions and questions and confusion about perspectives and allegiances where Islam is concerned, both locally and elsewhere.

At least the "editors" had the guts to admit what they had done.

Screengrabbed and annotated from this site.  

The prayer policy: Religious informational resources

The measures reportedly being adopted by the City of League City with respect to the pre-Council meeting prayers conform to common sense except for one important point: 

• It would make no sense to limit the outreach to congregations situated within League City. 
• It would make better sense to extend the outreach to congregations most commonly attended by League City residents (i.e., voters).

The reason for this is simple.  We are not Sugar Land.  

Sugar Land / West Side is an example of a largely-suburban area that has had the time to establish a diversity of religious congregations that reflects their residential base.  League City, in stark contrast, is still at the more primitive developmental stage of attracting restaurants.  Here's a Googlegrab showing reported Hindu temples across the southern half of greater Houston (and Google tends to significantly under-report religious institutions).

League City is a bedroom community, largely a collection of residential subdivisions that exploded into being within just the past few years.  This city has not yet had time to mature and develop a full expected range of social institutions, including religious congregations.  The point of the new prayer measure is to be inclusionary, which is exactly what needs to be done (and which I applaud).   But that can't happen unless the City takes into account those extra-territorial venues which its residents have no choice but to attend given the lack of them here in newbieville.


From Wikipedia. 

So League City needs to compile a reference guide that includes such places.  I know of one existing public religious database for this area, but it's based on voluntary submission of information and it is limited to Galveston County, whereas League City is on the border of the behemoth Harris County with all of its additional diversity.  And it is to Harris County that many of our religious residents go. 

The public list to which I'm referring is published every Saturday in Galveston County Daily News. 

Low-res screengrab from the August 24, 2013 e-edition. 

I'm going to compile a list of the more prominent institutions which include those that are located a short distance outside of our city limits, but which I know from experience draw visible portions of their congregations from within League City.  Obviously this list will be incomplete and limited by my own social exposures to the various groups.  By all means, comment below or send me emails so that I can continue to flesh this out with appropriate revisions and updates. 

CHRISTIAN (all branches)

• Too numerous to list in this space.  Refer to the GCDN source given above.

Nice crisp diagram from Wikipedia. 

MUSLIM

• League City Islamic Center, located north of FM 518. 
• Clear Lake Islamic Center on El Camino Real. An interesting local news story of religious tolerance here. 
• Asia Center in off Highway 3 in Webster (added 20130830 via email comment).
• Masjid Abu Bakr Siddiq on Highway 3 in the Ellington Field area (full list of greater Houston ISGH facilities here; added 20130830 via email comment)
• There's also Galveston Islamic Center. 

HINDU

• The closest major venue at this time is likely Meenakshi Temple in nearby Pearland. 
• Sugar Land, with its 35% Asian population, currently hosts the majority of greater Houston's Hindu facilities. 

BUDDHIST

• Empty Field Zendo draws from all over Clear Lake / Galveston County and currently meets in League City.  This is primarily a western convert group. 
• Until a few months ago, the Diamond Way congregation was meeting at a location on Dakota Avenue in League City, but they outgrew their facilities and had to move to a larger commercial location on NASA Road 1.  This is also largely a western convert group. 
• The closest and most prominent ethnic (Vietnamese) facility is the spectacular Chua Linh Son which is alternately described as being in Santa Fe or Dickinson.  Interesting factoid:  The number of Vietnamese in Houston has been increasing at break-neck speed, particularly with recent migration from California.  About 50% of the Vietnamese community self-identifies as Buddhist. 
• Dharma Spring Temple is located in Pearland just over its municipal border with Friendswood, and draws congregants from League City.  The Abbot of this temple frequents the Clear Lake area, sometimes leading meditation groups at local venues, including UH Clear Lake.  This is a rare blended western convert and ethnic temple. 

Linh Son is a large compound on FM 646 a bit south of its intersection with FM 517.  Dharma Spring is also situated on a large tract of land and is poised for intensification of its development.   

Screengrabbed from Googlemaps. 

JEWISH

• Temple Beth Tikvah is located in Clear Lake and I believe it is the closest Reform institution.
• Congregation Shaar Hashalom on El Camino Real is the nearest Conservative synagogue.
• Congregation Kol Am is reported in Seabrook but doesn't seem to have a webpage at this point.
• There's also Congregation Beth Jacob down the road in Galveston. 

UNITARIAN

• The Bay Area Unitarian Universalist Church is a vibrant congregation encompassing approximately four hundred pledged members plus their families as well as semi-pledged friends of the church.  A significant percentage of the congregation resides in League City.  Clear Lake is a southern stronghold of sorts for UU-ism, owing to its preponderance of intellectual residents whose formal educations are in the natural sciences (drawn by associations with Johnson Space Center, UTMB, UHCLC, and other local institutions).   
• There is also the Galveston UU Fellowship which I have heard is attended by some north-county-ers, particularly former islanders who chose to move inland following Hurricane Ike but who maintain ties to the island. 

BAHA'I

• Baha'i Faith Community of League City. 

ATHEIST / NONTHEIST

• Houston Atheists claims to be the world's largest atheist group.  They appear to be currently using Facebook and the Meetup platform to self-organize.  Local atheists are generally becoming more prominent in our mainstream society. 
• There exists a wide variety of analogous other focus groups including Humanists of Houston, Houston Coalition of Reason, agnostic Meetup groups, etc.
• Unitarian Universalist congregations include atheist and agnostic members (explanation here). 

As I mentioned above, please email me or comment below if you believe other local venues (particularly those that aren't listed in other sources such as GCDN) deserve a place in this list. 

Pride cometh before the fall

Here's the danger in League City having recently pulled the Constitutional rights oppression stunt that led to their emphatic (and expensive) defeat in the Journaleros lawsuit: 

Now they've called wider attention to themselves.  They've raised a red flag (pun intended). 

With that one defining move, they put themselves on the radar of innumerable other special interest groups.  Made our city a target for the showcasing of modern-day American polarization and we, the taxpayers, remain on the hook for both the financial and the existential consequences of that. 

They've arguably established a reputation as a pack of power-hungry social antagonists, such that, even as they ponder how they might rein in the city's mushrooming legal bills, they are intentionally inviting more of the same style of litigation.

So it's no surprise that a group called Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFR) has now petitioned League City to delete the praying that is done before each City Council meeting.  It's a separation-of-church-and-state issue which is of authentic concern to some local citizens. 

And in true League City form, how did the Mayor and certain members of the City Council react?  According to accounts published in Galveston County Daily News, they reacted unprofessionally and with arrogance. 

“I’m offended you don’t believe in God, but you don’t have to answer to me. You’ll have to answer to him when your time comes.”  Council Member Todd Kinsey was reported as saying.

Holy sh*t!!!  Wrap your head around that one.  He apparently said that speaking in official capacity as a Councilman, openly condemning those who don't believe in his personal interpretation of God and how God might dole out judgment.  Council, if you didn't have a legitimate separation issue to start with, YOU HAVE ONE NOW!! 

I attempted to access League City records this morning in order to independently verify exactly what was said by whom, where, when and in which capacity, but it seems that the city's entire records management system is down this morning.

"Not available", just like common sense around here. 

Screengrabbed from this site. 

But anyway, relying on the GCDN reporting, the unprofessional tantrum-throwing didn't stop with Kinsey's finger-wagging.  Thiess called the FFR personnel "half-wits" and Bentley crossed herself (signed the cross) with the statement "That’s for all you [FFR] folks in Wisconsin”. 

It boggles the mind.  This isn't just an issue of concern to folks who wish to see a more authentic church-state separation.  This is an issue for every taxpayer whose individual religious views do not conform to the culture-warring, in-your-face, my-way-or-the-highway arrogance displayed by these elected extremists.  It was with those more moderate folks in mind, both believers and non-believers alike, and especially with a respectful nod to local people of diverse faiths whose spiritual and religious views are not reflected in those Council diatribes, that I offered my viewpoints on this morning's GCDN account.  That content is behind the paywall, so I'm reproducing my comments below with hyperlinks for your consideration.  Remember this stuff the next time you go vote, because it's important. 

***

The arrogance and unprofessionalism shown by the Mayor and City Council continues to astound. It's literally jaw-dropping. An established and authentic special interest group raises a valid church-state separation question, and here's a summary of the response:

(1) Thiess resorts to name-calling
(2) Kinsey personally channels God's wrath as he feels uniquely authorized to do
(3) Bentley issues a defiant religious gesture which, in this context, is leveraged at non-Christian believers as the equivalent of the middle finger
(4) Paulissen (via KTRH) references the fact that League City has been engaging in prayer in this official capacity fashion for the last 52 years and has no intention of changing.

Well, here's some news for Paulissen and the rest of you (drumroll, please):

Things have changed in the past fifty two years. Society has evolved. Just as a tip-of-the-iceberg example, right around the corner of West Walker Street from City Hall, there's a little residential subdivision chock full of municipal taxpayers (remember them?! taxpayers?!) who show incredible diversity in both ethnicity and religious traditions. We have all four of the world's major religions represented JUST ON MY ONE CUL-DE-SAC!!!!

Is there a single one of you elected representatives who could EVEN NAME the world's top four religions (as measured by number of adherents) without having to first look it up on Wikipedia?? I would put my money on NO.

Congratulations, guys. Rather than meeting this latest social positioning challenge objectively with a professional and coordinated smooth response along the lines of "We take the FFR request on advisement even as we value our traditions", you've once again proven your own overriding arrogance and sheer ignorance. You are a collective embarrassment to the unfortunate citizens you represent.

And I reckon that special interest groups like FFR will continue to bait you into showing exactly those true colors. That's what's actually happening here, eh? Apparently you're not in possession of the requisite level of political sophistication required to realize that. This is less about the stated issue (church-state separation) and more about stimulating Council into displaying its name-calling, brimstone-flinging, bird-flipping, yesteryear-clinging ignorance, so that the voters can know what they're up against in the way of a seated Council. And in this latest case, the tactic has succeeded, in spades.

***

"Half-wits!"

Microsoft clip-art. 

Intermodular Interfaith, Part 2

I mentioned Interfaith Caring Ministries the other day when I published this post.

This particular donation was very small,
but it's the principle of the thing. 

These ICM offices are located about 1.5 miles from Centerpointe on Park Street just south of FM 518, between those quaintly-designed retail shops and the baseball fields near the intersection of Dickinson Road. 

ICM was also profiled recently in Galveston County Daily News, and partly because most of that content is behind the paywall, I wanted to share a particularly insightful piece of perspective which is worth celebrating:


Thank God somebody had the guts to say it,
and say it bluntly. 

Screengrabbed from this GCDN article. 

This is a timely observation in my family's personal evolution, because our teenager is at the stage of life where she is interested in exploring different churches.  So lately we've been conducting our own mini-tour of sorts, as part of her religious education (notice I used the word "education", which is not the same as "indoctrination"). 

The sheer breadth and depth of the ego-centric ignorance we've encountered on our tour is remarkable.  We've found bubbling cauldrons of aspiring denominational triumphalism with all of its deleterious hallmark signs (as reproduced below from this Wikipedia article):

• Impaired ability to judge the value or morality of the group's actions;
• Cessation of creativity and innovation within the group;
• Blindness to other groups’ strengths and innovations;
• A tendency to over-reach against the group’s competitors, based on an inflated sense of the likelihood of triumph in conflict.

Particularly with respect to some of the hard-right evangelicals, apparently they never got that memo about God not being able to be for and against the same thing at the same time, because they seem to think they have exclusive claim on God's true favor, to the extent of explicitly condemning other groups in their entirety, all while obviously not having a clue beyond stereotype as to what those other groups really stand for. 

If I hadn't sat in some local Sunday services and heard it with my own ears, I would never have believed that this kind of crap still goes on behind closed church doors.  But it does, and it's discouraging, which is why I was extra-extra-appreciative of the article that Rick Cousins recently penned for GCDN. 

Screengrabbed from this GCDN article. 

Kudos to ICM for being a local beacon of sanity in an otherwise unworkably-polarized society, and for predicating their service model on deeper shared principles rather than superficial religious branding differences.  Henceforth, any additional "donations" I receive via this blog will be going directly to ICM, even if they come from Toyota.