Susan Sarandon's 'Activist' Christ

Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. Family Films Clean Up at the Box-Office
2. Another Anti-war Flick Bombs at the Box-Office
3. Susan Sarandon's 'Activist' Christ
4. Dem Candidates Don't Want the Ellen Degeneres Treatment
5. New Dem 'Party of the Rich'
 

1. Family Films Clean Up at the Box-Office

Is Hollywood listening?

This holiday weekend six of the Top 10 films were rated G, PG or PG-13.

"Enchanted" charmed up a whopping $50 million, the second highest five-day Thanksgiving opening for a film ever. Actors Amy Adams and "Grey's Anatomy"'s Patrick Dempsey established themselves as big-screen stars in the wholesome Disney fantasy.

Hollywood was once again sent a message through the Christian genius of Tyler Perry, when his family-oriented comedy called "This Christmas" placed a solid second over the five-day span with $27.1 million. Perry's budget for the movie was a modest $13 million.

"Beowulf" was third with $23.3, "Fred Claus" sixth with $15.1, "August Rush" seventh with $13.3 and "Bee Movie" showed its staying power coming in fifth with $16 million.

2. Another Anti-war Flick Bombs at the Box-Office

Again is Hollywood listening?

People have been "voting" at the box-office with their movie selections.

Tinseltown tried to impose its geopolitical views on filmgoers with "In the Valley of Elah," "Lions for Lambs" and "Rendition." All were miserable box-office flops.

But Brian De Palma's movie, which features military criminality, is the biggest anti-war bomb of the season.

"Redacted," about which film critic Michael Medved said that it "could be the worst movie I've ever seen," brought in (on 15 screens) an embarrassing $25,628 for the movie's opening weekend.

Produced and distributed by Dallas Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban, the film had an average per-screen take of $1,709.

By comparison, the uplifting film "Bella" had an average per-screen take of $8,051.

3. Susan Sarandon's 'Activist' Christ

There's nothing like the holiday season to bring out the celebrity preachers.

Susan Sarandon provided a glimpse into the theological mindset of the Left in a recent interview with Beliefnet.

The interviewer noted that Sarandon and longtime partner Tim Robbins are known for being peace activists.

Sarandon was asked, "What are some ways that regular people can help bring peace into the world?"

Sarandon spoke of starting with "your everyday life and living as Christ did, in a loving way and a respectful way." She then went on to characterize Jesus in an unusual sort of manner.

"I think that Christ was an activist," Sarandon said. "Christ wasn't afraid. His life is an example of activism."

She followed with this statement: "I think that the gap between the rich and the poor contributes to the pain of the world."

"Anything you can do that helps to alleviate this huge gaping gap between the rich and the poor will eventually make the world a more peaceful place," she added.

No doubt Jesus wants us to take care of the poor. He reminded us over and over.

But in his "activist" manner, he made it personal, directing each and every individual to do so.

4. Democratic Candidates Don't Want the Ellen Degeneres Treatment

Ellen Degeneres recently found herself in the doghouse with striking writers.

The mistake Degeneres made was crossing the picket lines and doing her talk show despite the writers' strike.

Apparently, the Dem presidential candidates don't want the same thing to happen to them.

Because of a looming second strike by CBS's newswriters, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson have all said they will pull out of a scheduled CBS News presidential debate if CBS's newswriters join the screen and TV writers in a strike.

The CBS-sponsored debate is supposed to take place in Los Angeles on Dec. 10.

Edwards already posed with picketers in L.A., and his campaign also indicated that he and wife Elizabeth will pass on an upcoming scheduled appearance on ABC's "The View" because of the writers' guild strike.

In a released statement, Edwards called on "all of my fellow candidates and their campaigns to do the same."

The Obama campaign said that if news workers were striking "Barack Obama will not cross the picket line to attend the debate." Obama's wife Michelle also cancelled a co-hosting appearance on "The View" because of striking writers.

The Clinton campaign followed suit, noting that "America's unions are the backbone of America's middle class, and I [Hillary] will always stand with America's working men and women in the fight to ensure that they are able to earn a fair wage."

Richardson jumped on the debate-skipping bandwagon, too. "His actions when it comes to the strike are more important than what he says at the debate," his spokesperson said.

5. New Democratic 'Party of the Rich'

"The demographic reality is that the Democratic Party is the new 'party of the rich,'" Michael Franc recently noted in the Financial Times of London.

Franc, an officer at the Heritage Foundation, conducted a study, which helps explain why wealthy Hollywood is chock-full of die-hard Dems.

Examining the net worth of folks in states and congressional districts, Franc determined that the majority of the nation's wealthiest congressional districts were represented by Democrats and more than half of the richest households are in the 18 states in which Dems control both Senate seats.

Franc's study also showed that, contrary to Democrat characterizations, "the vast majority of unabashed conservative House members hail from profoundly middle-class districts."