[geeks] Re: [rescue] It's official, the U.S. is screwedfor4more years

[Brian Dunbar]

On Nov 9, 2004, at 4:11 PM, Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

> Phil Stracchino wrote:
>>
>> Aagh!  I counter your cunning maneuver with Mel Gibson's "Passion of
>> Christ" by a swift countermove of Monty Python's "Life of Brian"!
>
> Anyone remember the grammar lesson?
>
> Brian was supposed to write "Romans go home" on the Jerusalem city wall
> in latin. A centurian (John Cleese) caught him and forced him to write
> it
> properly. As he left, the centaurian told him "now do that 100 times."

Reg is addressing a room of masked commandos (MC) some are named eg
S,X,F etc

R: We get in through the underground heating system here ... up through
to the main audience chamber here ... and Pilate's wife's bedroom is
here. Having grabbed his wife, we inform Pilate that she is in our
custody and forthwith issue our demands. Any questions?
X : What exactly are the demands?
R : We're giving Pilate two days to dismantle the entire apparatus of
the Roman Imperialist State and if he doesn't agree immediately we
execute her.
R: They've bled us white, the bastards. They've taken everything we
had, not just from us, from our fathers and from our fathers' fathers.
S : And from our fathers' fathers' fathers.
R: Yes.
S: And from our fathers' fathers' fathers' fathers.
R: All right, Stan. Don't labour the point. And what have they ever
given us IN RETURN? (he pauses smugly)
X: The aqueduct?
R: What?
X: The aqueduct.
R: Oh yeah, yeah they gave us that. Yeah. That's true.
MC: And the sanitation!
S: Oh yes ... sanitation, Reg, you remember what the city used to be
like.
R: All right, I'll grant you that the aqueduct and the sanitation are
two things that the Romans HAVE done ...
M: And the roads ...
R: (sharply) Well YES OBVIOUSLY the roads ... the roads go without
saying. But apart from the aqueduct, the sanitation and the roads ...
MC : Irrigation ...
O: Medicine ... Education ... Health
R: Yes ... all right, fair enough ...
  MC : And the wine ...
ALL : Oh yes! True!
F: Yeah. That's something we'd really miss if the Romans left, Reg.
MC: Public baths!
S : AND it's safe to walk in the streets at night now.
  F: Yes, they certainly know how to keep order ... (general nodding)
... let's face it, they're the only ones who could in a place like
this. (more general murmurs of agreement)
R: All right ... all right ... but apart from better sanitation and
medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a
freshwater system and baths and public order ... what HAVE the Romans
ever done for US?
X: Brought peace!