Dear Friend, In today's edition of InfoQuest*, we'll look at the reality of the boycotts going on, write a letter to our federal Congress rep, and take a look at the reality (or lack thereof) of a movie! Also, please pray for me and my family as I travel to an important meeting in Harrisburg this weekend. CONTENTS: (1) Boycott Shmoycott! (2) Letter to Fed House Rep. on H.R. 502 (3) The Pianist (Movie) ==================== ==================== (1) Boycott Shmoycott! Dear Friend, Are you aware of some of the boycotts that the U.S.A. has been recently involved in? Boycotting French, Russian, and German goods because of our war in Iraq? Here's a URL on a little bit more on the German reason: Who really built Iraq's arsenal? Germany biggest offender in covert sale of weapons to Baghdad, says G2 report http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=31190 Well, my answer to these boycotts can be seen in my latest letter to the editor below. Feel free to copy/edit this text to send it to editors of your local papers! Try to plug a local American-owned and -operated business! To the editor: Many of us have begun boycotting French, German, and Russian products because the governments of those countries have been thwarting our war against terrorism and/or providing Iraq with military weaponry and assistance. Are we Americans so self-centered, cheap, and unpatriotic, that we don't boycott all foreign goods and support our own American businesses so that our own unemployed citizens find work and we can reopen factories to become self-sufficient again? When was the last time that you saw "Made in the U.S.A." on a toy, article of clothing, appliance, or automobile? Spend a few bucks more to buy American and get us away from dependence on terrorist, socialist, and communist countries for products. Support freedom! Learn the truth about socialism at the InfoQuest* for Truth website at http://users.netreach.net/InfoQuest (click "Civics"). You can find any product made in the U.S.A. at www.BuyAmerican.com. We can begin locally by supporting a new American-owned and -operated dry cleaning shop in Sellersville; McCormick Brothers Dry Cleaning (their quality is incredible - and they even give you a laundry bag to make drop-offs quick and easy in their drop-off bin!). Sincerely, [Enter your name, address, and phone number.] --- IQ* Note: Start buying the products that you need at: http://www.BuyAmerican.com Buy this book: "How Americans Can Buy American - The Power of Consumer Patriotism" by Roger Simmermaker ==================== ==================== (2) Letter to Fed House Rep. on H.R. 502 Dear [Enter your Federal Congress Rep.'s name here], Mexico has been subverting our immigration laws by issuing "matricula consular" ID cards to illegal immigrants in the United States. These Mexican ID cards are then used by the illegals to obtain social services, set up bank accounts, get drivers licenses, etc. Increasingly, states, banks, and local law enforcement agencies are accepting the matricula cards as official identification. H.R. 502 has been introduced to stop the use of these Mexican ID cards for receiving federal public benefits. This bill also urges the 50 states to implement the same policy. I implore you to support H.R. 502 and oppose the use of Mexican matricula consular IDs by illegal immigrants. Please write to me and let me know how you expect to vote on H.R. 502. Sincerely, [Enter your name, address, and phone number here.] --- Get your rep's contact information here: http://users.netreach.net/InfoQuest/government.htm#CONGRESS ==================== ==================== (3) The Pianist (Movie) BreakPoint with Charles Colson Commentary #030321 - 03/21/2003 Melody of Faith The Pianist Among the nominees for Best Picture in this year's Academy Awards is The Pianist. The movie, which has been nominated for six other Oscars in addition to Best Picture, tells the story of one man's survival during the Nazi occupation of Poland. Like most films, The Pianist takes liberties with the historical facts. Unfortunately, these liberties include one key fact that made the story, and the film that tells it, possible. The Pianist is based on composer Wladyslaw Szpilman's memoir. Szpilman feels little affinity for his fellow Jews, even after the Germans forced them into the Warsaw ghetto. He only avoids the fate of the rest of his family, who perished in Treblinka, through a series of improbable events: being selected to work on a construction crew and then afterwards as a clerk. Then comes the most improbable turn of all: While searching for food, Szpilman is stopped by a German officer who asks him, of all things, his profession. After Szpilman answers, the officer takes him to a piano where Szpilman plays Chopin. The German then hides and feeds Szpilman for the remainder of the war. As Michael Oren wrote in the New Republic, the image we are given is one of a "monster transformed by music." That image, as Oren tells us, is a "misrepresentation." The German soldier in question was named Wilm Hosenfeld. Hosenfeld was "an ardent Catholic who abhorred Nazism." In his diary, he wrote that the war happened because "humanity had to be shown where its godlessness was taking it." Our "denial of God's commandments" and our unwillingness to "love one another" condemned us to die "innocent and guilty alike." This faith is why Hosenfeld "repeatedly risked his life to rescue others, Poles and Jews, from extermination." This is why these survivors, including Szpilman, tried to get Hosenfeld released from a Soviet labor camp, where he died in 1952. The only suggestion in the film of Hosenfeld's real motivation is when he gives Szpilman his coat and tells him, "You must survive. God wills it." But without knowing about his faith, the audience can't possibly make sense of that remark. Why must Szpilman survive? Because he can play Chopin flawlessly or because he is made in the image of God? In suggesting the first answer, the filmmakers are following the Romantic ideal of the artist as a visionary, prophet, and even redeemer. The irony is that no one better articulated this vision than the German composer Richard Wagner; Hitler's favorite composer. This is not to say that Wagner or Romanticism should be blamed for the crimes of the Third Reich. Of course, they should not. But it is a reminder that the kind of heroism displayed by people like Hosenfeld and other "righteous Gentiles" was, more often than not, a function of their faith. Risking their lives to rescue others was a matter of love for neighbor, not a refined aesthetic. Szpilman knew this, and he pointed it out in his memoir. Unfortunately, his adapters were not as careful with the facts. As a result, a film that was supposed to shed light on the Holocaust leaves viewers in the dark about what they saw. And you might want to tell your friends who watch the Academy Awards the real story behind this film, very different from the one they will see on the screen. www.BreakPoint.org