PASSION INCREASES: On February 19, the distributor of Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ announced that the movie's release, already large, would be expanded. The film opened on Ash Wednesday. Newmarket Films increased the number of theaters from 2,000 to 2,800 in response to tremendous demand, meaning that the independent film in Aramaic and Latin with English subtitles had a release as large as that of a major studio film. A long and sustained marketing campaign to traditional Christians coupled with controversial charges of anti-Semitism from liberal Jewish groups have put the film at the top of the movie industry's survey of most-anticipated films of the season, and the film was expected to have the highest opening weekend gross of any such movie in history.
JUST RELAX: "Critics have a serious problem," wrote conservative Jewish commentator Don Feder of The Passion last week. "The script of Gibson's movie comes directly-almost word for word-from New Testament sources. If The Passion fuels, legitimizes and rationalizes Jew-hatred, then so does the Christian Bible. At least [Abraham] Foxman has the intellectual honesty to follow his argument to its logical conclusion. 'You know, the Gospels, if taken literally, can be very damaging, in the same way if you take the Old Testament literally,' the ADL leader observes." Says Feder, "By the way, Abe, your Bible isn't called the Old Testament but the Torah, and-yes-there still are some Jews who take it quite literally, including the parts that make you uncomfortable. . . ." "If the movie and the Gospels on which it's based are anti-Semitic," asks Feder, "then why are those Christians most faithful to the New Testament among the strongest supporters of Israel?" Feder also wondered at the choice of target made by so many activists. "With the raw sewage being pumped out of the open cesspool that calls itself a creative community-songs that celebrate rape and the degradation of women, films that glorify violence and legitimize perversion and sexual anarchy-it's ironic that some have chosen to attack a film that dramatizes sacrifice and redemption," he wrote.
CALIF. SAYS NO: More concerned about habitat than national security, California bureaucrats have refused to give permission to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to fill in low points and extend a fence along the final 3.5 miles of the border between its current endpoint and the ocean. The California Coastal Commission decided February 18 that sensitive habitat took priority over any security benefits. The U.S. Border Patrol plans to try to overturn the decision, possibly in federal court.
THANK YOU, BUT: Concerned Women for America expressed its gratitude to President Bush for coming out in favor of an amendment to ban same-sex "marriage" on February 24. But in contrast to Bush's position, CWA also wants the amendment to prohibit the granting of the legal rights and privileges that should be unique to marriage to same-sex couples (or groups) via civil unions. "Government should not legitimize and subsidize relationships that intentionally deprive children of a mother or father," said CWA President Sandy Rios. "Americans should not be forced to support what they believe to be immoral relationships, whether homosexual or heterosexual." Said Robert Knight, director of CWA's Culture and Family Institute, "California has shown us what happens when marital benefits are conferred upon unmarried relationships, such as 'domestic partnerships.' Business people, regardless of their beliefs, are now being forced to promote homosexuality or lose state contracts; schoolchildren are being taught that homosexuality is normal and healthy; the Boy Scouts are being driven from the public square."
SAVE THE INTERNET: A new coalition has come together to save the Internet from taxation. "The formation of the Consumer Internet Access Coalition (CIAC) was necessitated by the efforts of Senators Lamar Alexander (R.-Tenn.) and Thomas Carper (D.-Del.) to significantly increase the cost of Internet access to consumers," the coalition announced February 23. Said Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), a coalition member: "For the first time in six years, Americans who use the Internet are at risk, because some lawmakers are pushing legislation that will harm consumers and do irreparable harm to our country's standing as a global leader." Though the House has passed a permanent Internet tax moratorium sponsored by Rep. Chris Cox (R.-Calif.), the Senate has not passed its own version sponsored by Senators George Allen (R.-Va.) and Ron Wyden (D.-Ore.).
