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Charlton Heston's Impact On Sci-Fi
An anonymous reader writes "As you're probably already aware, Charlton Heston passed away yesterday. Wired has a piece looking back at Heston's extremely notable work in the sci-fi genre, with roles in films like "Planet of the Apes" and "Soylent Green". 'Heston also roared out some of sci-fi's greatest and most memorable lines, bringing his macho swagger and over-the-top intensity to the screen in movies like 1973's food freak-out flick Soylent Green and the Planet of the Apes series. In a pivotal scene from 1968's Planet of the Apes (see clip), Heston's character, time-traveling astronaut George Taylor, utters the first words spoken by a human to the simian rulers of a bizarro future Earth: "Take your stinking paws off me, you damn dirty ape!'"
Thanks dumb ass, its people like you who are responsible for ruining the credibility of intelligent gun owners.
You mad
Like it or not, the USA will always have firearms. We are like no other country in the world in that respect, right or wrong. We were founded on individualism and being tough SOBs (like it or not).
I say this with as much objectivity as I can, being a US citizen. We are prone to consumerism, decadence and overall "whinyness" because of our success as a nation. BUT, I think most of us take a (perhaps twisted) sense of pride that we will NEVER be conquered and occupied for any length of time. You could put every soldier in the world on US soil and we'd still win (eventually). This was a major concern of the Soviets during the cold war.
Twisted and paranoid? Yep, but that goes to our very roots, because of the way we were born as a nation. Australia, India, Canada... all were born from relative peace. Not us, we were born in fire and remain a violent society in no small part, because of that fact.
Less guns work in the UK and Australia because you are both island nations. It works in the UK and Australia because you are less aggressive (arguably more mature) societies. It will NOT work in the USA.
Also, it should be noted that an extremely important decision will be made by the supreme court directly pertaining to the interpretation of the 2nd amendment for the first time (assuming they don't dodge it, like they did in '39) this session. http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/forumy/2008/04/middle-ground-supreme-courts.php
If you can read this... 01110101 01110010 00100000 01100001 00100000 01100111 01100101 01100101 01101011
Even if your "statistics" were true, (sourced from "gunowners.org" -- give me a break), they prove nothing. Australians have never carried guns for "self-defence" or kept them in their homes (unless they were farmers for rabbit shooting) the way you do in the USA. Not now, not 10 years ago, or any time in the last century. Guns weren't a deterrent before, because hardly anyone had them. Now that small number has been decreased.
If there has been an increase in violent crime, there are many possible causes. Economic uncertainty, drug-related, etc, etc. And tighter restrictions on gun ownership are a REACTION to violent crime, not a cause of it.
Don't make uninformed statements about Australia to support your insane American gun laws.
Good riddance... one gunhappy moron less