Jesse Ventura vs the TSA

Former-governor Jesse Ventura is no stranger to controversy. As a former pro-wrestler, you might say he thrives on it. And he has been a tireless campaigner for Libertarian values. So, it should come as no shock that he has decided to take the TSA to court over the new pat-down or scan policies of the Transportation Safety Administration. He has an interesting different take on the situation as he has both a Libertarian angle and an Americans-with-Disabilities Act angle, as he has a titanium hip.

According to the lawsuit, Ventura received a hip replacement in 2008, and since then, his titanium implant has set off metal detectors at airport security checkpoints. The lawsuit said that prior to last November officials had used a non-invasive hand-held wand to scan his body as a secondary security measure.

But when Ventura set off the metal detector in November, he was instead subjected to a body pat-down and was not given the option of a scan with a hand-held wand or an exemption for being a frequent traveler, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit said the pat-down "exposed him to humiliation and degradation through unwanted touching, gripping and rubbing of the intimate areas of his body."

It claims that under TSA's policy, Ventura will be required to either go through a full-body scanner or submit to a pat-down every time he travels because he will always set off the metal detector.

Outrage has become somewhat muted (or numbed) since the original flare-up around Christmas. It'll be interesting to see if this is a catalyst for more activism, or if the American people are too tired of the issue to care at this point.

Star Wars Controversy

Star Wars is no stranger to debate and controversy. Fans love the films and are willing to argue about the tiniest details of the films, books, and mythology. And George Lucas's desire to constantly fiddle with the films to bring them closer to his own vision has only made the controversies more intense.

But, CELEBRATION V may have kicked over the hornet's nest in a new series of interviews with Gary Kurtz. Kurtz directed the most beloved of the Star Wars films - THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK - and left the films during the early stages of RETURN OF THE JEDI. He has remained silent over the details for decades. But he has finally broken his silence.

“We had an outline and George changed everything in it," Kurtz said. “Instead of bittersweet and poignant he wanted a euphoric ending with everybody happy. The original idea was that they would recover [the kidnapped] Han Solo in the early part of the story and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base. George then decided he didn’t want any of the principals killed. By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason.”

The discussed ending of the film that Kurtz favored presented the rebel forces in tatters, Leia grappling with her new duties as queen and Luke walking off alone “like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns,” as Kurtz put it.

Kurtz said that ending would have been a more emotionally nuanced finale to an epic adventure than the forest celebration of the Ewoks that essentially ended the trilogy with a teddy bear luau.

This new story vindicates conspiracy theorists who have speculated for years that Kurtz had a "better" story in mind for the film than the final version produced. And this ending sounds a lot more satisfying to the adults that most fans are today. Although, I can't help wondering if the children who first watched JEDI would have agreed.

Massachusetts School Pregnancy Not a Reason to Give Out Contraceptives.

Well we now are being told that there was no pact between the girls in a Gloucester Massachusetts school which had 4 times as many pregnancies this year as last. This story is being used by those who advocate contraception to be given out in schools as a prime example of what happens if the schools don't step in to give these girls (or guys) a means to prevent pregnancy. One of the girls who is pregnant appeared on Good Morning America this morning and said

"Well, I think that they sit there and they say that they want to make a difference and it's awful that all these kids are getting pregnant, but they don't want to do anything to help them. They won't put contraceptives in the nurse's office or anything and no kid wants to go into the store and buy them, or like, ask them mom to help them get birth control. Like, it's embarrassing. So, instead of, like, making them make the decision not to use any of them, they should be giving them out in the nurse's office so you can get it anonymously,"

This quote makes it seem like this girl had that problem doesn't it? Well earlier in the article she & her boyfriend admitted that she was on birth control and still got pregnant. "Lindsey was on birth control. She was very careful with it, you know, because, obviously, we, at 17 and 20, we're not ready for a kid."

So let's not jump to the conclusion that obviously these girls would have not gotten pregnant if free/anonymous birth control was available.

The Golden Compass controversy

A few weeks ago I started hearing about the controversy surrounding The Golden Compass. I'm not familiar with the books so I was unaware that there was any controversy at all. I received several emails from Christian watch groups ordering suggesting Christians boycott the film. Being the contrarian that I am, that only made me want to see the movie more. Because of the film's large budget there is a lot of interest in it in the entertainment world. Entertainment Weekly had the movie as its cover story this week, which includes a very good synopsis of the controversy surrounding both the books and the film.

As for the controversy, I tend to agree with one Christian author they quoted as saying:

My God is big enough to defend himself against Philip Pullman. As a Christian, I think his story brings up great points of debate.

What do Mod-Blog readers think?