He was certainly courteous to me. Members of the community were also willing (to some extent) to give him the benefit of the doubt. What do they think now? I’m not sure. You’d have to ask them.

Whatever the public actually thinks of him, this is a guy who a) had some things go wrong, and b) made a few mistakes along the way. And whether or not he faced up to his mistakes adequately, he’s had to face some embarrassment and humiliation over this very public incident. He’s also had to pay the SPCA bills to the tune of several thousand dollars, and he had said he was going to pay for the shovel crew expenses as well. So all in all, it’s a losing proposition for Mackay, and a winning proposition for the horses.

It’s pretty hard to say whether Mackay’s been genuine in all these things, but keeping an open mind is definitely the option I’m going to take.

Note that he identified himself — he could have avoided the law. There’s no indication that he was hiding from the law once the charges were laid. Law moves slowly, I’d be interested if anyone can point to details whether this was a quick trial that simply had delays (including an Alberta guy in a BC court), or he was sandbagging the proceedings.

Keep an open mind, I’d be curious for the rest of the facts.

Mind you, if he did simply discard the horses, go ask for them back once rescued, show surprise that he did anything wrong, delay proceedings, and admit guilt only when no other tactic was available, then he remains unworthy of respect. …but if he did the right(er) thing in the end, it shows that people can change.

Hi BW,

On behalf of Bob Dylan, many thanks for plugging “Christmas In The Heart”, the charity album benefiting Feeding America, Crisis and the World Food Programme … .. and, if your readers want good quality, non-pirated, previews, then “Must Be Santa” is available for fans and bloggers to post / host / share etc from http://www.myspace.com/bobdylan and a special widget is also available from http://www.bobdylan.com/#/christmas-in-the-heart-donate … .. for further details of the album, on-line promotions, videos and 2009 / 2010 shows, check-out http://www.bobdylan.com and http://www.youtube.com/bobdylantv … .. and keep an eye on these official sources for details of further news and preview material.

Please do visit the official web-sites of Feeding America, Crisis and the World Food Programme for information on their charitable work and on how to make donations : help to make this Christmas special for those in need.

Thanks again for your plug.

Regards,

WEB SHERIFF

http://www.highway61revisited.com/

It is a bit rambling (it should have been two separate stories/DVDs) but the interviews with the Pastors of the Vineyard (Pastor Bill Dwyer) describes Dylans born-again transformation and the interview with the founder of Jews for Jesus Moishe Rosen is very good. The interviews with Jerry Wexler, background singer Regina McCrary, keyboardist Spooner Oldham, songwriter Al Kasha, San Francisco Chronicle rock reporter Joel Selvin are also very good.

After seeing these interviews it is difficult to question the reality of Dylans conversion.

Do you mean “Nailin’ it to the Door”? Looks interesting. There are very few insider looks at evangelicalism. The only other one I can think of is Randall Balmer’s PBS doc, “Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory,” which is probably a bit dated by now.

I know there’s a relatively recent Bonhoeffer doc., which I haven’t watched but saw good reviews. I half liked “Constantine’s Sword,” interesting in that it juxtaposed evangelicals in Colorado Springs with the anti-semitism of medieval Europe. I liked Alexandra Pelosi’s “Friends of God,” and its follow-up, “The Trials of Ted Haggard.”

Anyway, I’d be interested to see what you come up with for the series. Let me know.

I was googling “Religious Documentaries” and your post came up…small world! Beyond these 2 are you familiar with any other good ones? I’m trying to put together a proposal for a series here at Calvin. So far I’ve got Murray Stiller’s “The Door” documentary and one on Dorothy Day called “Don’t Call Me a Saint.” Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Justin