[Mb-civic] Ian's Letter

Fri Sep 3 17:21:36 PDT 2004

Good points,
Michael

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> Today's Topics:
> 
>  1. Bush Drumbeat - Terror (Harold Sifton)
>  2. Letter (Ian)
>  3. NYTimes.com Article: Citing Politics,    Studio Cancels
>     Documentary  (ialterman at nyc.rr.com)
>  4. NYTimes.com Article: Feel the Hate  (swiggard at comcast.net)
> 
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Message: 1
> Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 18:48:50 -0400
> From: "Harold Sifton" <harry.sifton at sympatico.ca>
> Subject: [Mb-civic] Bush Drumbeat - Terror
> To: "MB Civic" <MB-civic at islandlists.com>
> Message-ID: <000a01c4913f$045d3140$503fe440 at Harold>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> CS Monitor, Linda Feldmann & Liz Marlantes
> 
> War on Terror, Bush's Drumbeat !
> 
> http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0903/p01s02-uspo.html
> 
> Later H
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2004 21:47:14 -0400
> From: "Ian" <ialterman at nyc.rr.com>
> Subject: [Mb-civic] Letter
> To: "Civic" <mb-civic at islandlists.com>
> Message-ID: <0c4a01c49157$f0024780$99ca6c42 at ianb0ky45i5r2b>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> A letter I sent in response to a NYT article.
> 
> Peace.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Ian 
> To: letters at nytimes.com
> Sent: Thursday, September 02, 2004 9:46 PM
> Subject: letter
> 
> 
> The chart accompanying your front page article ("G.O.P., Last to Bat, Swings
> Freely for the Fences," Sept. 2) indicates that speakers at the Republican
> National Convention invoked John Kerry's name 86 times, while speakers at the
> Democratic National Convention invoked George Bush's name only 19 times.  This
> clearly makes Republican claims of Democratic "Bush-bashing" disingenuous, if
> not hypocritical.
> 
> Your chart also indicates that speakers at the RNC used the word "terrorism"
> 38 times (compared to DNC speakers, who used it 30 times), and the word "jobs"
> 28 times (compared with DNC speakers, who used it 127 times).
> 
> I have done a slightly different, though equally instructive, count.  RNC
> speakers invoked "9/11" 28 times; DNC speakers invoked it only 14 times, or
> half as often.  In addition, RNC speakers  invoked the "economy" 14 times,
> while DNC speakers invoked it 25 times, or twice as often.
> 
> Considering that (i) in choosing New York City for its convention, a
> spokesperson for the RNC indicated that references to 9/11 would be "discreet"
> (i.e., minimal), and (ii) Mr. Bush and his administration have boasted about
> their economic accomplishments, the statistics vis-a-vis convention rhetoric
> tell a very different story in both these regards.
> 
> Rev. Ian Alterman
> New York City
> (646.489.3444)
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> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu,  2 Sep 2004 21:51:29 -0400 (EDT)
> From: ialterman at nyc.rr.com
> Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Citing Politics,    Studio
> Cancels Documentary
> To: mb-civic at islandlists.com
> Message-ID: <20040903015129.F0E3E35040 at web38t.prvt.nytimes.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> 
> The article below from NYTimes.com
> has been sent to you by ialterman at nyc.rr.com.
> 
> 
> So...is this "serious," or simply an attempt to stir up controversy a la
> "Farenheit 9/11" in order to increase interest?
> 
> Peace.
> 
> ialterman at nyc.rr.com
> 
> 
> /--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight ------------\
> 
> I HEART HUCKABEES - OPENING IN SELECT CITIES OCTOBER 1
> 
> From David O. Russell, writer and director of THREE KINGS
> and FLIRTING WITH DISASTER comes an existential comedy
> starring Dustin Hoffman, Isabelle Hupert, Jude Law, Jason
> Schwartzman, Lily Tomlin, Mark Wahlberg and Naomi Watts.
> Watch the trailer now at:
> 
> http://www.foxsearchlight.com/huckabees/index_nyt.html
> 
> \----------------------------------------------------------/
> 
> 
> Citing Politics, Studio Cancels Documentary
> 
> September 2, 2004
> By SHARON WAXMAN 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> LOS ANGELES, Sept. 1 - Warner Brothers has decided not to
> distribute the director David O. Russell's new antiwar
> documentary when it re-releases his 1999 Gulf War movie,
> "Three Kings," this fall, judging it "totally
> inappropriate" to do so in a political season, a studio
> spokeswoman said.
> 
> The heads of Warner Brothers made the decision this week
> after seeing the completed documentary, which features
> interviews with Iraqi refugees and veterans of the current
> war in Iraq. 
> 
> "This came out to be a documentary that condemns,
> basically, war," said the spokeswoman, Barbara Brogliatti.
> "This is supposed to be a special edition of 'Three Kings,'
> not a polemic about war."
> 
> The fate of the completed documentary, which was supposed
> to be an add-on to the DVD and to be screened with it in
> theaters - is still uncertain, but the studio, which
> provided its $180,000 budget, said it was inclined to let
> Mr. Russell have it back. Mr. Russell, anticipating that
> outcome, said he would probably try to distribute it
> independently. 
> 
> "It was definitely a surprise and a disappointment," he
> said in an interview Tuesday. "But they are being very
> gracious and letting me take it back."
> 
> The studio's decision reflects a heightened sensitivity by
> media companies over movies that may be construed as
> partisan. Sony recently backed out of a deal to distribute
> the DVD of "The Control Room," a documentary about the Arab
> news channel Al Jazeera. The Canadian independent company
> Lions Gate will distribute it instead. Earlier this year
> the Walt Disney Company became part of a cultural firestorm
> when it declined to distribute Michael Moore's anti-Bush
> documentary, "Fahrenheit: 9/11," saying it was too
> political. The documentary became a hit, and the episode
> deepened a split between Disney and executives of its
> Miramax unit who backed the film.
> 
> With the talk of quickly giving Mr. Russell back his film,
> Warner Brothers appeared eager to avoid creating a similar
> controversy. But unlike Mr. Moore's film, the Russell
> documentary does not endorse or even mention either
> presidential candidate.
> 
> Mr. Russell said he did not quite understand the political
> objection. "The point is, yes, Saddam was horrible," said
> the director, whose other films include "Flirting with
> Disaster" and the forthcoming "I {sheart} Huckabees." "A
> lot of people, my Iraqi friends, say they supported the
> war,'' he added, referring to the documentary. "Then you
> have a human rights activist saying it's better that Saddam
> is gone, but I'm not sure the world is better off with this
> war." 
> 
> But Warner executives said the documentary was not what Mr.
> Russell had promised as additional material for the movie's
> re-release. They expected follow-up stories to the real
> lives of Iraqi extras and advisers who worked on the film,
> like one political refugee who moved back to Iraq and was
> doing underground political work.
> 
> "That's not what this turned out to be," Ms. Brogliatti
> said. In an interview with The New York Times last month,
> Mr. Russell said he made the documentary because "I thought
> I could perhaps make a difference before the election, let
> people see the situation, how Iraqis wanted to get rid of
> Saddam, but also show what war does to people."
> 
> That prompted Warner Brothers to ask its lawyers if the
> documentary might run afoul of Federal Election Commission
> regulations, or constitute a so-called soft money political
> contribution. Though the legal opinion was unclear, the
> studio decided not to release a film that might be
> construed as partisan ahead of the election. The president
> of Warner Brothers, Alan Horn, is an active Democrat and
> wanted to avoid the perception that he was using the studio
> to support his own political convictions, studio executives
> said. Ms. Brogliatti said Mr. Russell would try to come up
> with other additional material more closely related to the
> movie. If he can, she said, the studio will stand by its
> plan to re-release "Three Kings" as a DVD and in about a
> dozen theaters, probably next month.
> 
> Mr. Russell said he would still try to distribute the
> documentary before the election, possibly through the
> political grass-roots organization Moveon.org, which has
> promoted other political documentaries this year, including
> "Outfoxed," a critique of Fox News.
> 
> "Three Kings" is a dark comedy starring George Clooney
> about four soldiers who set out to find Saddam Hussein's
> hidden cache of gold bullion in the aftermath of the 1991
> Gulf War. Along the way they meet Shiite insurgents and
> refugees who are battling Mr. Hussein's army after having
> been urged to revolt by President George H. W. Bush. The
> soldiers end up abandoning the gold and helping the
> refugees escape. 
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/02/movies/02film.html?ex=1095176289&ei=1&en=191
> 3cc9c894f6b82
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------
> 
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> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 4
> Date: Fri,  3 Sep 2004 07:18:51 -0400 (EDT)
> From: swiggard at comcast.net
> Subject: [Mb-civic] NYTimes.com Article: Feel the Hate
> To: mb-civic at islandlists.com
> Message-ID: <20040903111851.B6EBA84BD at web39t.prvt.nytimes.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
> 
> The article below from NYTimes.com
> has been sent to you by swiggard at comcast.net.
> 
> 
> Ugly convention - empty bluster and venom. Releieved it is over. Let's fight
> back against these creeps and show them the door.
> 
> Go Kerry!
> Regards,
> Bill
> 
> swiggard at comcast.net
> 
> 
> /--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight ------------\
> 
> I HEART HUCKABEES - OPENING IN SELECT CITIES OCTOBER 1
> 
> From David O. Russell, writer and director of THREE KINGS
> and FLIRTING WITH DISASTER comes an existential comedy
> starring Dustin Hoffman, Isabelle Hupert, Jude Law, Jason
> Schwartzman, Lily Tomlin, Mark Wahlberg and Naomi Watts.
> Watch the trailer now at:
> 
> http://www.foxsearchlight.com/huckabees/index_nyt.html
> 
> \----------------------------------------------------------/
> 
> 
> Feel the Hate
> 
> September 3, 2004
> By PAUL KRUGMAN 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> "I don't know where George Soros gets his money," one man
> said. "I don't know where - if it comes from overseas or
> from drug groups or where it comes from." George Soros,
> another declared, "wants to spend $75 million defeating
> George W. Bush because Soros wants to legalize heroin."
> After all, a third said, Mr. Soros "is a self-admitted
> atheist; he was a Jew who figured out a way to survive the
> Holocaust." 
> 
> They aren't LaRouchies - they're Republicans.
> 
> The
> suggestion that Mr. Soros, who has spent billions promoting
> democracy around the world, is in the pay of drug cartels
> came from Dennis Hastert, the speaker of the House, whom
> the Constitution puts two heartbeats from the presidency.
> After standing by his remarks for several days, Mr. Hastert
> finally claimed that he was talking about how Mr. Soros
> spends his money, not where he gets it.
> 
> The claim that Mr. Soros's political spending is driven by
> his desire to legalize heroin came from Newt Gingrich. And
> the bit about the Holocaust came from Tony Blankley,
> editorial page editor of The Washington Times, which has
> become the administration's de facto house organ.
> 
> For many months we've been warned by tut-tutting
> commentators about the evils of irrational "Bush hatred."
> Pundits eagerly scanned the Democratic convention for the
> disease; some invented examples when they failed to find
> it. Then they waited eagerly for outrageous behavior by
> demonstrators in New York, only to be disappointed again.
> 
> There was plenty of hatred in Manhattan, but it was inside,
> not outside, Madison Square Garden.
> 
> Barack Obama, who gave the Democratic keynote address,
> delivered a message of uplift and hope. Zell Miller, who
> gave the Republican keynote, declared that political
> opposition is treason: "Now, at the same time young
> Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains
> of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made
> weaker because of the Democrats' manic obsession to bring
> down our commander in chief." And the crowd roared its
> approval. 
> 
> Why are the Republicans so angry? One reason is that they
> have nothing positive to run on (during the first three
> days, Mr. Bush was mentioned far less often than John
> Kerry). 
> 
> The promised economic boom hasn't materialized, Iraq is a
> bloody quagmire, and Osama bin Laden has gone from "dead or
> alive" to he-who-must-not-be-named.
> 
> Another reason, I'm sure, is a guilty conscience. At some
> level the people at that convention know that their
> designated hero is a man who never in his life took a risk
> or made a sacrifice for his country, and that they are
> impugning the patriotism of men who have.
> 
> That's why Band-Aids with Purple Hearts on them, mocking
> Mr. Kerry's war wounds and medals, have been such a hit
> with conventioneers, and why senior politicians are
> attracted to wild conspiracy theories about Mr. Soros.
> 
> It's also why Mr. Hastert, who knows how little the Bush
> administration has done to protect New York and help it
> rebuild, has accused the city of an "unseemly scramble" for
> cash after 9/11. Nothing makes you hate people as much as
> knowing in your heart that you are in the wrong and they
> are in the right.
> 
> But the vitriol also reflects the fact that many of the
> people at that convention, for all their flag-waving, hate
> America. They want a controlled, monolithic society; they
> fear and loathe our nation's freedom, diversity and
> complexity. 
> 
> The convention opened with an invocation by Sheri Dew, a
> Mormon publisher and activist. Early rumors were that the
> invocation would be given by Jerry Falwell, who suggested
> just after 9/11 that the attack was God's punishment for
> the activities of the A.C.L.U. and People for the American
> Way, among others. But Ms. Dew is no more moderate: earlier
> this year she likened opposition to gay marriage to
> opposition to Hitler.
> 
> The party made sure to put social moderates like Rudy
> Giuliani in front of the cameras. But in private events,
> the story was different. For example, Senator Sam Brownback
> of Kansas told Republicans that we are in a "culture war"
> and urged a reduction in the separation of church and
> state. 
> 
> Mr. Bush, it's now clear, intends to run a campaign based
> on fear. And for me, at least, it's working: thinking about
> what these people will do if they solidify their grip on
> power makes me very, very afraid.
> 
> http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/03/opinion/03krugman.html?ex=1095210331&ei=1&en
> =1136704495578167
> 
> 
> ---------------------------------
> 
> Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine
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> 
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> 
> Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company
> 
> 
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