In Memoriam: Charlton Heston

Click here for a fantastic blog post that memorialized Heston and his great career, complete with classic movie clips.

Click here for a great eulogy by Damian.

Click here for a dream I had of Heston this morning, prior to hearing of his passing. I'm sure it's just a coincidence hahahahaahahahaa.

Finally, I'd like to reprint a satirical-yet-serious piece from a few years back. We here at the Skew officially endorse this message:

Earth-Never: President Heston Speaks on September 12, 2001

The following is an official Earth-Never transcript of a speech delivered by President Charlton Heston the day after the 9-11 tragedies:

The bombing has began. In response to the COWARDLY acts that occurred yesterday in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania, we are destroying all-known terrorists in the Middle East.

We know who the terrorists are. The hijackers were members of Al-Quaida. Al-Quaida's leader Osama bin Laden is currently located in Afghanistan. His organization trains there. Now, his organization is being wiped from the face of the earth.

As with any war, innocent victims will die. Many innocents died yesterday, while trying to go to work. Today, many more will die. Any person living within 100 miles of a known terrorist is likely to be dead after tonight. Please pray for these souls -- that God will help them understand and give them peace.

We are the world's superpower. We do not tolerate these GUTLESS attacks. And we are responding in kind.

As the world's superpower, we have a responsibility -- to stand for freedom and democracy, and to crush tyranny when it exists.

Yesterday, we were attacked by a new kind of tyranny. As a superpower, we have the ability to counter-attack and wipe this new kind of tyranny off the face of the earth. And we are.

It is unfortunate that the Middle East governments were unwilling to fight the terrorists head-on. Their lack of diligence has lead to this day, and makes them equally accountable for the thousands of deaths on American soil.

After the bombing, the Middle East will be largely inhabitable for years to come. This will obviously have an affect on our economy, as well as the world's economy. We believe that this is a NECESSARY hardship that we MUST endure in order to insure that terrorism will CEASE to exist.

One nation has been spared: Israel. Israel has been the only partner in that area to stand by us 100%. We have assurances from Prime Minister Sharon that the Palestinian terrorist problem will also be taken care of over the next 24 hours. We trust Israel, and we applaud their actions.

We understand that the actions being taken today will be upsetting to certain members of the Islamic community here in America. In order to assure that no retaliatory attacks take place within our borders, all mosques will be asked to close until the terrorist problem is solved, and all Muslims will be asked to voluntarily hand themselves over to local military or police officials. We need to get to the bottom of this, and root out terrorism in all forms from our country. If your Muslim, I say to you now: your cooperation will be greatly appreciated.

Finally, my fellow Americans, we must look to the future. The men and women who died yesterday will not die in vain. We will insure that terrorism will cease to exist in our country, and in the world. By doing so, we offer a peaceful planet to our children, and their children.

Goodnight, and may God bless us all.