Life of Brian Arisen from the Dead
"Every person has the absolute right to do anything that is not a provable threat to others." -- Andrew Melechinsky
# CNN - Python's 'Life of Brian' to be re-issued - Yay!!! Two scenes I remember from over twenty years ago: [root]
"Crucifiction?"from the article:
"No."
"OK, then go stand over there."
"No, really, crucifiction."
"Have you met my friend, Biggus Dickus?"
Coming back soon to a theater near you -- a controversial film about a Jewish guy from Nazareth who is worshiped as the Messiah and crucified by the Romans.
No, it's not Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." It's Monty Python's "Life of Brian."
Inspired by the runaway success -- and public furor -- over Gibson's portrayal of the last 12 hours in the life of Jesus, the creators behind the 1979 biblical satire about an anti-Roman activist who spends his life being mistaken for a prophet are planning a 25th anniversary re-release next month.
"Life of Brian" will open at the end of April in Los Angeles and New York before expanding to other cities across the country, Rainbow Film Company president Henry Jaglom, whose distribution arm is reissuing the film, said Tuesday.
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The film's creators have said it was meant as a spoof on Bible films and intolerance rather than Christianity.
But that distinction was lost on some who were offended by the irreverent flavor of the film, including a scene in which several crucifixion victims sing and whistle the tune "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" while hanging on crosses.
# jed at FreedomSight - 10th Circuit Says No Individual RTKBA - More discussion at Talkleft. The tenth circuit's jurisdiction covers the "six states of Oklahoma, Kansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, plus those portions of the Yellowstone National Park extending into Montana and Idaho." From their ruling (89K PDF):
...to prevail on a Second Amendment challenge, a party must show that possession of a firearm is in connection with participation in a "well-regulated" "state" "militia.".... The Second Amendment does not guarantee an individual the right to keep and transport a firearm where there is no evidence that possession of that firearm was related to the preservation or efficiency of a well-regulated militia.
# Christina Almeida of AP via The Las Vegas Sun - Federal jury in Las Vegas indicts anti-tax author Irwin Schiff - just in time to scare anyone who was thinking of filing a zero return, the tax goons have arrested the author of The Federal Mafia: How It Illegally Imposes and Unlawfully Collects Income Taxes. [claire]
"The indictment today reminds us that fulfilling individual tax obligations is a legal requirement and those who willfully evade that responsibility will be prosecuted," said Nancy Jardini, who oversees criminal investigations for the Internal Revenue Service.
Schiff, 76, said he will file a motion to dismiss.
"At my arraignment, I will plead guilty to all the charges if they can show me a law in the code that says persons earning income are liable for income taxes," Schiff said.
Cohen, an employee at Schiff's Freedom Books, said he welcomed a chance to challenge the federal government's tax code.
"I think it's a good opportunity to prove that they're wrong," Cohen said.
In the indictment, federal prosecutors allege Schiff, Neun and Cohen were responsible for nearly 5,000 tax returns that fraudulently reported no income, or "zero returns." Those tax forms included zeros on every line related to income and expenses and often claimed a full refund of all federal taxes withheld or paid.
# Gregg Easterbrook at The Atlantic Monthly - Forgotten Benefactor of Humanity - Norman Borlaug won the Nobel Prize in 1970, " primarily for his work in reversing the food shortages that haunted India and Pakistan in the 1960s". His name is little recognized in America, but his high yield agriculture methods have made a huge difference. [samizdata]
The form of agriculture that Borlaug preaches may have prevented a billion deaths.
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Yet although he has led one of the century's most accomplished lives, and done so in a meritorious cause, Borlaug has never received much public recognition in the United States, where it is often said that the young lack heroes to look up to. One reason is that Borlaug's deeds are done in nations remote from the media spotlight: the Western press covers tragedy and strife in poor countries, but has little to say about progress there. Another reason is that Borlaug's mission -- to cause the environment to produce significantly more food -- has come to be seen, at least by some securely affluent commentators, as perhaps better left undone. More food sustains human population growth, which they see as antithetical to the natural world.
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Paul Ehrlich had written in The Population Bomb (1968) that it was "a fantasy" that India would "ever" feed itself. By 1974 India was self-sufficient in the production of all cereals. Pakistan progressed from harvesting 3.4 million tons of wheat annually when Borlaug arrived to around 18 million today, India from 11 million tons to 60 million. In both nations food production since the 1960s has increased faster than the rate of population growth. Briefly in the mid-1980s India even entered the world export market for grains.
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If overpopulation anarchy comes, it is likely to arrive first in Africa. Borlaug understands this, and is using his remaining years to work against that cataclysm. The odds against him seem long. But then, Norman Borlaug has already saved more lives than any other person who ever lived.
# John R. Lott Jr. at National Review - A Weapon Surrendered - the Brady Bunch, realizing that they can't renew the ban on some ugly-looking semi-automatic rifles, is finally conceding, ten years too late, that the ban doesn't matter. [geekwitha.45]
Eliminating the ban will not produce an upward surge in crime. There will be no upward surge in police killings. Gun controllers have a problem: It will be much harder for legislators and the press to take gun-control groups' apocalyptic claims seriously after they fail to materialize on such a high-profile issue.There will be an upsurge in police killings in 2004 and 2005, but it will be due to people finally getting sick of police state Amerika, not because of the sunsetting of the ugly semi-automatic rifle ban.
