Jim Emerson: On celebrities, Politics, and movie critics (shilling for Roger Ebert)

Chicago Sun Times ^ | October 14, 2004 | Jim Emerson, Editor of RogerEbert.com

[weegee]

I went ahead and posted this because I stumbled on it a few weeks ago and thought it was worthy.

I didn't have the time to get into it then.

Since the election is over but the buggy whip media still has to be taken out to the woodshed over the con game they tried to pull on the American public, I want to post this to serve as a reminder.

I've decided to term this Zogbyism. The difference between McCarthyism and Zogbyism is that Communists WERE working inside the government (Senator McCarthy's exagerated claims had merit, as the KGB's own files have revealed) but Bush WON (the Zogby poll and other media "indicators" were wrong about the electorate).

Some may say that it was a "simple" poll but the numbers led the news. They CONSISTENTLY oversampled Democrats.

Bush Country knew that the media was distorting the figures. Talk radio and the internet helped to keep our spirits up. Imagine the citizens of Soviet Russia only hearing state run media; they are exposed to nothing but party line dogma. This is what we got from the mainstream/buggy whip media. There are other avenues for information out there.

In part, the media's Zogbyism this campaign got the Silent Majority to the polls in greater numbers than had ever been seen at an election. 60 Million Americans said "Hell no!" to John Kerry and the mainstream media. We knew that the Bush haters would be out in force this election. We knew that there would be vote fraud. We also knew that we had the numbers to win in the end by sheer turnout.

I don't believe we've even reached our limit, a good number of Americans eligible to vote still stayed at home this election.

I include Rathergate (the hoaxed National Guard memos that were broadcast on CBS) along with the hoaxed images of "abuse" at Abu Ghraib as examples of Zogbyism, a deliberate distortion.

Abu Ghraib had genuine abuse that was under investigation but it was not HARSH enough for the media. They had to pose photos of British soldiers urinating on "prisoners" and pull photos from a porn site to show evidence of Americans "raping" "Iraqis". No wonder America lost respect for this war and the terrorists consider us disciples of Satan.

"Well it was just a difference of opinion"?

The media distortions of Abu Ghraib turned the war effort (here in America and in Iraq) and the inflated "combat deaths" list is purely a propaganda tool. People wrongly assume that it is an "official" list; it is not. The list is compiled from press releases of US military deaths (which list all such deaths around the world). Inclusion/exclusion is up to the propagandist compiling the list. Bigger numbers served the antiAmerican War left. They wanted 1,000 deaths by 9-11-2004 (or at least election day).

They also wrongly assume that they are war injuries; technically they are as the people were deployed in the Iraq war and therefore serving "active duty". Some of the people died in Iraq of non-combat injuries and illnesses (car accidents, drowning, electrocution, heart attacks, pneumonia, etc.). Some did not even sustain their injuries in Iraq. Many have died in Kuwait; some in Germany; and in one case, that has been purged from some lists, a woman died while crossing the highway in KANSAS. The Washington Post maintains such a list and omits the woman in Kansas; they DO include a man who died of a vehicular accident in Kuwait that same week.

I have not seen Michael Moore's F911 but I have seen FahrenHYPE 911. In it there is a man who lost several limbs. His injury was caused when a tire they were inflating exploded. It is a tragedy. It also could have occurred anywhere yet the left insists "it's Bush's fault". His buddy was killed. Michael Moore allegedly has interview footage with this man in his film. The man conducts the interview with the FahrenHYPE 911 filmmmakers to dispute the presentation that Michael gave. Several people claim that they were unaware that they were going to be in his film (and one claims it was a tv news crew that released footage to Moore).

NONE of this would have been tolerated in America during WWII. Mildred Gillars and William Joyce were both convicted of treason for their biased reporting during WWII. Both were American born propagandists.

Mildred Gillars and William Joyce are more commonly known by their Nazi broadcast names "Axis Sally" and "Lord Haw Haw". Mildred was sentenced to prison and William was hanged in England.

I don't expect to see the same punishments passed down today but make no doubt that Michael Moore and others in the media serve the same cause and are a disgrace to their profession.

People should hear that Axis Sally interviewed American soldiers wounded in Germany (allegedly posing as a Red Cross assistant). It sounds suspiciously similar to what Michael Moore engaged in to make his film.

In closing, I will leave you with this audio sample from Axis Sally (transcript follows):

"Well, I'm sorry girls but the time is really nearly up now and just in closing, girls, I like to ask you one question, on the level, straight shoulder to shoulder."

"If you child behaves badly, do you agree with its misbehavior? Do you say to yourself, 'My child, right or wrong, I don't care what he does.'?"

"No you don't."

"You try to correct that child, you try to make him a better citizen."

"Well, and what is a country? A country is only made up of people after all. Do you say, 'My country right or wrong?' No, girls. That's false sentimentality and I do NOT praise(?) my country right or wrong."

"I love America but I do NOT love Roosevelt and all his kike boyfriends who have thrown us into the awful turmoil. And I'll stick to my guns as long as I can tire(?) them, girls."

"So you've not heard the last from me and I'm sure you must reject(?) your radio because you will want to hear more of what Germany is saying through the medium of an American girl."

AntiAmericanism is still antiAmericanism.

[RightWingAtheist]

Egads, what idiocy! There's barely a lefty talking point left unturned in this smorgasbord of stupidity.

[weegee]

ZOGBYISM - the term for the media's coordinated campaign to influence the 2004 election.

Here is the timeline for some events (many of which Ramsey Clark figured into, but then I started to track Abu Ghraib to recall the name of the operative who helped bring it to the media):

------------------------------

Did we REALLY live through such a sustained period of distortions? No wonder the mainstream media doesn't like us archiving data here. Just the headlines alone are damning.

------------------------------

Ramsey Clark Role in Setting Rather's Saddam Interview Overstated, CBS Now Says (Posted on 03/01/2003)

Bush accused of supporting Haitian rebels (Posted on 02/28/2004)

Picture of Kerry with Ramsey Clark at 1971 "Peace Conference (Posted on 02/11/2004)

Ramsey Clark Endorses John Kerry (Posted on 03/01/2004)

Ramsey Clark: An American Traitor (Posted on 03/08/2003)

Articles of Impeachment of President George W. Bush [Ramsey Clark Alert] (Posted on 03/19/2003)

IMPEACHMENT ACTIONS AGAINST THE PRESIDENT BY John Conyers (D-Mich.)& Ramsey Clark (Posted on 03/13/2003)

Heads Up... from Michael Moore (Posted on 04/26/2004)

The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not "insurgents" or "terrorists" or "The Enemy." They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win. Get it, Mr. Bush?....I oppose the U.N. or anyone else risking the lives of their citizens to extract us from our debacle...the majority of Americans supported this war once it began and, sadly, that majority must now sacrifice their children until enough blood has been let that maybe -- just maybe -- God and the Iraqi people will forgive us in the end.

Michael Moore admits Disney 'ban' was a stunt (Posted on 05/06/2004)

U.S. calls for Arab retractions (Posted on 05/09/2004)
The terrorists who killed Nick Berg would have had opportunity to see these images in the press and link them with the "Abu Ghraib scandal":

The day after a WorldNetDaily report revealed that photos circulating in the Middle East that depict GI's raping Iraqi women were fake and had originated from pornography sites, the U.S. Embassy in Cairo issued a statement calling on Arab news outlets to publish retractions.

The embassy statement read, "We have done a thorough investigation of the origin of these photos and have conclusive evidence that they originated on a pornographic web site. They are clearly staged photos, done by actors, as the site itself states."

The Al Wafd newspaper published four photographs on the top of its front page that were alleged show American soldiers sexually abusing female prisoners in Iraq. Al Osboa and Al Mussawer published two of the same photos

The U.S. Embassy called the publication of these pornographic photos, with headlines alleging the involvement of U.S. soldiers, a "fundamental violation of journalistic integrity," and stated that their publication needlessly inflamed an already heated atmosphere.

Abuse photos 'were staged in UK' (Posted on 05/11/2004)

Nick Berg's Father and International A.N.S.W.E.R.(Posted on 05/11/2004) (note this thread agitated the left)

Media ethics, consistency questionable in release of photos" (Posted on 05/11/2004)

DJs Who Laughed At Beheading Are Fired (Portland, Ore.) (Posted on 05/13/2004)

Press calls prisoner coverage 'balanced' (Posted on 05/12/2004)

Anyone see the Berg video yesterday on cable news?(Posted on 05/12/2004)

(Daily Mirror) Editor sacked over 'hoax' photos (Posted on 05/14/2004)

Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan has been sacked after the newspaper conceded photos of British soldiers abusing an Iraqi were fake. In a statement the Mirror said it had fallen victim to a "calculated and malicious hoax" and that it would be "inappropriate" for Morgan to continue.

NOTE: Those were the photos of a "soldier" urinating on a "prisoner". This was done using official equipment (that was not dispatched) suggesting that it was an inside smear job of the British military. I have not read up this story in recent months to see how the investigation is going. No wonder the terrorists got angry enough to cut a man's head off in revenge. The blood of the hostages is on the hands of radicals in the press who blindly pursued an agenda of ousting President Bush.

Those fake rape photos: Boston Globe attempts cover-up of fake rape pix (Posted on 05/14/2004)

See More Hersh (Seymour Hersh) (Posted on 05/14/2004)

This ghost is investigative reporter Seymour Hersh.

In 1969 as a freelance writer Hersh wrote a story for the tiny Left-wing Dispatch News Service run by his neighbor David Obst. The story, based on Hersh’s stateside interviews with soldiers back from Vietnam, was about what came to be called the “My Lai Massacre.”

This story, with its vivid portrayal of alleged American atrocities, was perfect for the propaganda purposes of the anti-war Left. The liberal media echoed and amplified Hersh’s report into front page news – and in the process turned him overnight into a journalist superstar, winner of the first of four career George Polk Awards, the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting and other honors.

Such fame is an intoxicating drug. When your story sits atop the world news wires, the telephone rings constantly – are you available to appear tomorrow on the Today Show? On CBS News? To give a speech Saturday for $25,000? It was a magical moment in Hersh’s life that he has tried again and again to recapture with shocking stories – but never quite succeeded.

And so once again Sy Hersh is making news with his investigations “Torture at Abu Ghraib: American Soldiers Brutalized Iraqis. How Far Up Does the Responsibility Go?” in the May 10 New Yorker magazine and “Chain of Command: How the Department of Defense Mishandled the Disaster at Abu Ghraib” in its May 17 issue.

AL-JAZEERA: BEHEADING A FAKE (Posted on 05/14/2004)

Rooting for the Enemy... (Posted on 05/16/2004)

A MAN has his head cut off by al Qaeda in Iraq, and The New York Times aggressively markets the idea - on its front page yesterday - that his death is somehow the fault of the United States...

"Don’t Let Abu Ghraib Overturn Our Success" (Posted on 05/16/2004)

Prior to the launch of Operation Iraqi Freedom last year, I wrote that we would not find easy allies among the Iraqi people. It had nothing to do with Muslim disdain for Westerners. It had nothing to do with Iraqi fears of Western colonization. It had nothing to do with oil. It had completely to do with the average Iraqi’s horrific fear of his own government and its vast network of informants and enforcers.

The average Iraqi still possesses that fear. This cannot be emphasized enough. There remain very few Iraqi citizens willing to risk their lives in a public show of support for U.S. and coalition forces given the longstanding tendency of our civilian leadership to cut and run when the political establishment and their news media allies turn up the heat. And despite President Bush’s insistence on staying the course, he has already relented somewhat by promising to relinquish power to the Iraqis on a very premature June 30.

The recent flap over prisoner mistreatment will not help.

Lawmakers Told of POW Abuse Months Ago (Posted on 05/16/2004)

Two months before pictures of Iraqi prisoner abuse became public, the family of one accused soldier wrote to 14 members of Congress that "something went wrong" involving "mistreatment of POWs" at Abu Ghraib prison.

Separately, a suspended Army officer in Iraq wrote to Republican Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania that he was being unfairly punished after "pictures of naked prisoners" were discovered. He sent the letter six weeks before the CBS program "60 Minutes II" first broadcast photographs of the prisoners on April 28.

HERE IS THAT LIST:

Carl Levin (Michigan)
Edward M. Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Robert C. Byrd (West Virginia)
Joseph I. Lieberman (Connecticut)
Jack Reed (Rhode Island)
Daniel K. Akaka (Hawaii)
Bill Nelson (Florida)
E. Benjamin Nelson (Nebraska)
Mark Dayton (Minnesota)
Evan Bayh (Indiana)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York)
Mark Pryor (Arkansas)

HARDLY a bunch of Bush defenders.

Sly Sy - A journalist’s latest tricks. (Posted on 05/17/2004)

EDITOR'S NOTE: The man behind many of the most provocative Abu Ghraib stories — Seymour M. Hersh of The New Yorker — is one of the best-known reporters in the business. But that doesn't mean he always gets his facts right. "If the standard for being fired was being wrong on a story, I would have been fired long ago," he once said. Hersh has admitted to lying to his sources and one former editor accused him of blackmailing them. Can he be trusted today? John J. Miller profiled Hersh in the December 3, 2001 issue of National Review.

The media on Nicholas Berg: So what? (Posted on 05/18/2004)

The news of Nicholas Berg's gruesome murder came urgently in mid-afternoon on Fox News Channel. Anchor Shepard Smith didn't -- couldn't -- show the video that had hit the Internet. He handled it gravely, correctly. He explained the deadly facts, how masked Muslim fanatics screamed praise to Allah as they savagely sawed off Berg's head -- the head of an American who came to Iraq to help it rebuild.

How would this story grab the American news media? How would it change the media's obsession with much less graphic photos of sexual humiliation of prisoners? Many suggested that since the media wanted to make such a show out of the Abu Ghraib pictures, they ought to do the same with the Berg murder. An endless spiral into more and more gory images isn't the best way to run a news business -- or a foreign policy. But it's instructive that after news reports had touted the public's "right to know" about Abu Ghraib, to see every picture, suddenly, some images weren't supposed to stick in the public mind.

But there's more to this double-standard story. While NBC aired 58 stories on U.S. prison abuse in the first few weeks of that story, NBC aired only five stories over 16 months on the discovery of Saddam's mass graves. Abu Ghraib holds 1,500 prisoners, a fraction of whom were abused. Saddam's graves held as many as 300,000 people, all of whom were murdered. How is Abu Ghraib 10 times more important than that?

Sadly, the distortions continued. With few exceptions, the Berg beheading was at best a two-day TV story, an obstacle to get around, a white-noise distraction from The Scandal. Berg died. The media's take: sad, but so what? That shouldn't register in public opinion. On the very night the Berg story emerged, ABC's "Nightline" couldn't spend more than a few minutes on Berg before Ted Koppel was back to soliciting John McCain to explain what horrific treatment Americans might dish out next.

Soldier arrested over Mirror hoax photos (Posted on 05/18/2004)

Reaction/Counter-Reaction to the Abu Ghureib Abuses in the Arab Media (Look Who's Talking V3.0) (Posted on 05/19/2004)

NOTE: It would be interesting to see how the "resistance" may have increased after this heavy rotation of "imperial abuse"

Roger Ebert: Ovation for Moore's 'Fahrenheit' lasts longer than Bush dawdled (Posted on 05/19/2004)

Media’s Selective Outrage, by the Numbers (Posted on 05/21/2004)

Court TV meets the war on terror (Posted on 05/21/2004)

(Hunter S. Thompson writing for ESPN) Let's Go To The Olympics (Posted on 05/24/2004)

The long-dreaded 2004 Olympics in Greece will be the ultimate crossroads for sports and politics in this new and vicious century. The recent photos of cruelty at the Abu Grahaib all-american prison in Baghdad have taken care of that.

Yes, sir. We have taken the bull by the horns on this one, sports fans. These horrifying digital snapshots of the American dream in action on foreign soil are worse than anything even I could have expected. I have been in this business a long time and I have seen many staggering things, but this one is over the line. Now I am really ashamed to carry an American passport. Not even the foulest atrocities of Adolf Hitler ever shocked me so badly as these photographs did.

Clarke Testimony Discredits Moore's 'Fahrenheit 911' (Posted on 05/25/2004)

Moore interviewed Berg for "Fahrenheit" [index to thread at reply #1859] (Posted on 05/27/2004)

Media's Mission Accomplished: U.S. Troops Now Called 'Baby Killers' (Posted on 05/28/2004)

Berg talks of Iraq's business potential on Michael Moore footage (Posted on 05/29/2004)

New York Times Streak of Page One Stories on Abu Ghraib ends at 32 Days! (UPDATED: 34 of 37 days) (Posted on 06/01/2004)

Soros: Abu Ghraib same as 9-11 (Posted on 06/03/2004)

Lori Haigh: The Girl Who Cried Wolf? (ChronWatch Investigative Report)(HOAXTER EXPOSED) (Posted on 06/11/2004)

Cuba publishes bogus GI rape photos (Posted on 06/15/2004)

MEDIA IS SHOWN TAPE OF SADDAM'S ABUSES AT ABU GHRAIB (Posted on 06/16/2004)

White House Suggests Media Explain Cover Up of Saddam Atrocity Video (Posted on 06/18/2004)

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan denied that the White House had a role in keeping a gruesome video of atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein's regime from the media. When asked by Talon News on Thursday to explain the virtual news blackout of the horrific images of Iraqis being beheaded, tongues being cut out, and fingers being chopped off, McClellan said that he'd "leave it to the media to address those issues."

Roger Ebert: (Fahrenheit) '9/11': Just the facts? (in defense of Michael Moore documentaries) (Posted on 06/21/2004)

Moore film distributor OK with terror support (Posted on 06/21/2004)

Harry Knowles' "Ain't It Cool News" FAHRENHEIT 9/11 review (Posted on 06/23/2004)

Yes, this film does have tangible real world goals, with every sprocket hole, this flick is asking you to not re-elect that Bush dude. This is propaganda.

I love propaganda, it’s fascinating. The study of propaganda has been a part of my life as far back as I can remember.
[snip]
Meanwhile, if you see FAHRENHEIT 9/11 and wished it had been meaner to George, I suggest picking up Ted Rall’s...

Official Ebert review of Moore film (Posted on 06/24/2004)

ALA hosts special screening of "Fahrenheit 9/11" at Annual Conference (Posted on 06/24/2004)

Fahrenheit''s Embedded Cameraman Revealed (Posted on 06/27/2004)

Moore's Film Is Shocking Propaganda (Good Editorial by Ed Koch!) (Posted on 06/29/2004)

Der ewige Jude - The Eternal Jew (Posted on 06/27/2004)

Der ewige Jude ("The Eternal Jew") is the most famous Nazi propaganda film. It was produced at the insistence of Joseph Goebbels, under such active supervision that it is effectively his work. It depicts the Jews of Poland as corrupt, filthy, lazy, ugly, and perverse: they are an alien people which have taken over the world through their control of banking and commerce, yet which still live like animals.

Though unquestionably vicious, many would say that, by today's standards, it is also crude and transparent. The narrator explains the Jews' ratlike behavior, while showing footage of rats squirming from sewers and leaping at the camera. The film's most shocking scene is the slaughter of a cow, shown in bloody detail, by a grinning Rabbi - and it is followed by, of all things, three innocent (presumably German) lambs nuzzling each other.

More on Hezbollah - Moore Flick: Not everyone thinks they're "terrorists"! It's a "natural" team! (Posted on 06/30/2004)

Hezbollah's Hollywood Hero [Michael Moore] (Posted on 07/10/2004)

Ramsey Clark to Join Panel for Saddam’s Defense (Posted on 08/24/2004)

BushGuard august1 memo - a FAKE (Posted on 09/09/2004)

Was Abu Ghraib a CBS Put Up Job too? (Posted on 09/20/2004) (consider that one of the men involved in the crimes was the one who leaked them to the media with the aid of ; is it really that different from the case of Sgt. Akbar who used a grenade to kill 2 officers and injured another 12?)

-------------

I think that the media certainly knew that eyes would glaze over at the prospect of another "impeachment" and that it might cost Kerry some voters in the end. His was a coalition of conflicting opinions carefully held together, in part by offering flip flopped statements depending on the crowd he was addressings. Harder to pull that off grandstanding discussing impeachment.

The media needs to look at themselves in the mirror and see what they have become. Abu Ghraib was the turning point in the war, where public opinion soured and hostilities increased in Iraq. Any book addressing the media bias in the 2004 election HAS to focus on AG (but by no means the only tale in the story). Yes crimes were committed at AG and they WERE under investigation. A number of congressmen were aware of the situation and said nothing.

Adding pictures made it an exploitable scandal. Some took that exploitation so far that they manufactured their own photos and story.

This is a crime of the highest order, a willful attempt to overthrow a President by sheer media manipulation and constant distortion (Zogbyism).

[weegee]

There are a number of threads of Roger Ebert reviews and I am sure that they generate quite a bit of email.

This was an attempt to placate Roger's critics. Doesn't seem to have worked.

[weegee]

Media Schadenfreude and Media Shenanigans PING

A PING to the article, my #1 post response is something of a cut and paste of some other recent thread postings I have made. I figured it appropriate to repeat them here (edited into a single post).

[weegee]

PING

[weegee]

Sure is quick to fill up your BS Bingo card with the phrases in this piece of "journalism".

[weegee]

There is a place where liberals can be found today and they won't hurt anyone...

SONG TITLE: THE RUBBER ROOM

RUBBER ROOM (Porter Wagoner)
« © '72 Owepar Publishing »

In a buildin' tall with a stone wall around,
there's a rubber room.
When a man sees things and hears sounds that's not there,
he's headed for the rubber room.
Illusions in a twisted mind to save from self-destruction.
hmm it's the rubber room.
Where a man can run into the wall
till his strength makes him fall and lie still...
And wait, for help, in the rubber room.
From his blurry vision of doom,
a psycho, in the rubber room.
The man in the room right next to mine screams a woman's name,
hits the wall in vain...
He's in the rubber room.
I hear footsteps poundin' on the floor,
God I hope they don't stop at my door.
Hmm I'm in the rubber room.
Now they've come to get me but they find,
I'm a screamin' pretty words, tryin' to make 'em rhyme...(*)
I'm in the rubber room!
hmm a psycho...
I'm in the rubber room
hmm...

* "teetotaly moteetaly" (Babbling Dan on election night, 2004)

[Fintan]

Does this guy get paid by the word?

[weegee]

FR threads of relevant Roger Ebert reviews:

Fahrenhype 9/11 (Jim Emerson review via RogerEbert.com)

Ebert: Going Upriver: The Long War of John Kerry (3 stars)

Ebert Review: Team America (1 star)

REMAKE OF THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (Ebert's review) (3 stars)

THE CORPORATION / *** (Not rated) (Ebert review/alert) (3 stars)

FAHRENHEIT 9/11(3 + 1/2 stars)

FAHRENHEIT 911 Cannes review

CONTROL ROOM / *** (Ebert Review/Alert) (3 stars)

ESSAY: Roger Ebert: (Fahrenheit) '9/11': Just the facts? (in defense of Michael Moore documentaries)

INTERVIEW: (Political) Roger Ebert interview (from the Progressive

Q: If you were putting on a progressive film festival, what movies would you show?

Ebert: It's a good question, because a movie isn't good or bad based on its politics. It's usually good or bad for other reasons, though you might agree or disagree with its politics.

Rog forgot that movie about the man who was on death row trying to get his conviction overturned. At some point it is revealed to the audience that he really did commit the crime. Roger thought that this was a horrible thing because it "validated" the death penalty advocates position. He gave it ZERO stars (the lowest he can go) because he absoluted hated the politics of this film. He liked the acting. He liked the direction. He hated the message.

THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE / ZERO STARS (R)

"The Life of David Gale" tells the story of a famous opponent of capital punishment who, in what he must find an absurdly ironic development, finds himself on Death Row in Texas, charged with the murder of a woman who was also opposed to capital punishment. This is a plot, if ever there was one, to illustrate King Lear's complaint, "As flies to wanton boys, are we to the gods; They kill us for their sport." I am aware this is the second time in two weeks I have been compelled to quote Lear, but there are times when Eminem simply will not do.

David Gale is an understandably bitter man, played by Kevin Spacey, who protests his innocence to a reporter named Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet), whom he has summoned to Texas for that purpose. He claims to have been framed by right-wing supporters of capital punishment because his death would provide such poetic irony in support of the noose, the gas or the chair. Far from killing Constance Harraway (Laura Linney), he says, he had every reason not to, and he explains that to Bitsey in flashbacks that make up about half of the story.

Bitsey becomes convinced of David's innocence. She is joined in her investigation by the eager and sexy intern Zack (Gabriel Mann), and they become aware that they are being followed everywhere in a pickup truck by a gaunt-faced fellow in a cowboy hat, who is either a right-wing death-penalty supporter who really killed the dead woman, or somebody else. If he is somebody else, then he is obviously following them around with the MacGuffin, in this case a videotape suggesting disturbing aspects of the death of Constance.

The man in the cowboy hat illustrates my recently renamed Principle of the Unassigned Character, formerly known less elegantly as the Law of Economy of Character Development. This principle teaches us that the prominent character who seems to be extraneous to the action will probably hold the key to it. The cowboy lives in one of those tumble-down shacks filled with flies and peanut butter, with old calendars on the walls. The yard has more bedsprings than the house has beds.

The acting in "The Life of David Gale" is splendidly done but serves a meretricious cause. The direction is by the British director Alan Parker, who at one point had never made a movie I wholly disapproved of. Now has he ever. The secrets of the plot must remain unrevealed by me, so that you can be offended by them yourself, but let it be said this movie is about as corrupt, intellectually bankrupt and morally dishonest as it could possibly be without David Gale actually hiring himself out as a joker at the court of Saddam Hussein.

I am sure the filmmakers believe their film is against the death penalty. I believe it supports it and hopes to discredit the opponents of the penalty as unprincipled fraudsters. What I do not understand is the final revelation on the videotape. Surely David Gale knows that Bitsey Bloom cannot keep it private without violating the ethics of journalism and sacrificing the biggest story of her career. So it serves no functional purpose except to give a cheap thrill to the audience slackjaws. It is shameful.

One of the things that annoys me is that the story is set in Texas and not just in any old state--a state like Arkansas, for example, where the 1996 documentary "Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills" convincingly explains why three innocent kids are in prison because they wore black and listened to heavy metal, while the likely killer keeps pushing himself onscreen and wildly signaling his guilt. Nor is it set in our own state of Illinois, where Death Row was run so shabbily that former Gov. George Ryan finally threw up his hands and declared the whole system rotten.

No, the movie is set in Texas, which in a good year all by itself carries out half the executions in America. Death Row in Texas is like the Roach Motel: Roach checks in, doesn't check out. When George W. Bush was Texas governor, he claimed to carefully consider each and every execution, although a study of his office calendar shows he budgeted 15 minutes per condemned man (we cannot guess how many of these minutes were devoted to pouring himself a cup of coffee before settling down to the job). Still, when you're killing someone every other week and there's an average of 400 more waiting their turn, you have to move right along.

Spacey and Parker are honorable men. Why did they go to Texas and make this silly movie? The last shot made me want to throw something at the screen--maybe Spacey and Parker.

You can make movies that support capital punishment ("The Executioner's Song") or oppose it ("Dead Man Walking") or are conflicted ("In Cold Blood"). But while Texas continues to warehouse condemned men with a system involving lawyers who are drunk, asleep or absent; confessions that are beaten out of the helpless, and juries that overwhelmingly prefer to execute black defendants instead of white ones, you can't make this movie. Not in Texas.

What a pompous ass.

[weegee]

I AM on this thread (not!).

[Calpernia]

If you have a moment, please surf out my research thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1209454/posts

There is some research that seems to coincide with your links up there!

[Calpernia]

ping

[RightWingAtheist]

His attack on Matt Stone for telling uniformed people not to vote says it all. Stone wasn't promoting apathy, he was telling people that they have a responsibility to get the facts before they make a decision, to not be swayed by rhetorical decorum or celebrity endorsement, and not to put ideology ahead of reality. What does Emerson do? He throws a tantrum at Stone, and levels the same ad homneim comments against him (and Dennis Miller) which he supposedly deplores.

[weegee]

I'll get to it at some point. Some of the posts in this thread have taken a while to surf for.

I don't intend to take this thread off topic (much) and use it as a general discussion of the disortions in the media although I have put a link to it on my profile page and may from time to time use this thread as a clearing house for information on the "2003-2004 Campaign Against Bush" bias.

Pretty much I stuck to Hollywood, phoney media "outrage", and hoaxes.

The LACK of coverage on John Kerry, prosecution of terrorists like the DC sniper duo, Sgt. Akbar who killed/injured troops in Iraq (his trial has been postponed until next year citing sleep apneia and bad legal counsel I think), and other stories that could have influenced the election is a whole 'nother element of the media bias. Not to say that is or isn't "Zogbyism", I was just sticking with the fabricated and exagerated stories (some of which played out in movie theaters).

The revisionist history of John Kerry's past IS more propaganda designed to win the election. No doubt about it.

People need to realize that the Democrats wanted to win the election more than they want to win the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism. THINK of all that misplaced energy and wasted time and money.

"There has to be a morning after"...

The left ran their snow job campaign like there was no tomorrow. They thought that they could shout in our faces, spit on us, call us "fascists", vandalize our homes, cars, businesses, & campaign offices, etc.

When angry Democrats attack - MN Republican Party website documents multiple incidents
keyword: BrownshirtsForKerry ( Will we hear ANY outrage from the ACLU or Southern Povery Law Center?)

Now they want us to act as if it never happened? This is why we believe in boycotts of such outspoken entertainers. What good did they do America? They divided the nation. Some even said that they did not like hearing that they had conservatives in the audience. Screw them, we'll take our business elsewhere. Some of us used to enjoy some of these performers in spite of their political views. Now it is a lot harder to separate the politics from the performance. Not every one who went on the campaign trail or appeared at a fundraiser publicly humilated themselves but there is quite a list of those who did.

We won't forget just like we won't forget 9/11. It is one reason why I log such information in this thread. So we DON'T forget. People must wake up to what was attempted.

If not they are sure to try it again. It is unAmerican.

Tell them to focus their efforts on the real problems of this world. If health care insurance is such a problem why don't they work to start a corportation to provide low cost health care to people? They are all millionaires. Why should the government have to administer such a system? Why can't the private sector address it?

There is no barrier to them establishing the socialist womb to the tomb paradise that they envision in the private sector. They have the capital. They have the clout. The problem is that their ideas are not financially sound and giving people the option of "something for nothing" and "paying for it" will have more people lining up for the handout (even if they complain that the one that costs is better).

Hillary Clinton knew this. Hillarycare would not have permitted you to privately pay for medical care. Paying for a doctor visit would have been on par with visiting a prostitute.

Never forget:

CONTROVERSY HITS ABC NEWS POLITICAL DIRECTOR MARK HALPERIN (Posted on 10/08/2004)

Halperin Memo Dated Friday October 8, 2004

It goes without saying that the stakes are getting very high for the country and the campaigns - and our responsibilities become quite grave I do not want to set off (sp?) and endless colloquy that none of us have time for today - nor do I want to stifle one. Please respond if you feel you can advance the discussion.

The New York Times (Nagourney/Stevenson) and Howard Fineman on the web both make the same point today: the current Bush attacks on Kerry involve distortions and taking things out of context in a way that goes beyond what Kerry has done.

Kerry distorts, takes out of context, and mistakes all the time, but these are not central to his efforts to win.

We have a responsibility to hold both sides accountable to the public interest, but that doesn't mean we reflexively and artificially hold both sides "equally" accountable when the facts don't warrant that.

I'm sure many of you have this week felt the stepped up Bush efforts to complain about our coverage. This is all part of their efforts to get away with as much as possible with the stepped up, renewed efforts to win the election by destroying Senator Kerry at least partly through distortions.

It's up to Kerry to defend himself, of course. But as one of the few news organizations with the skill and strength to help voters evaluate what the candidates are saying to serve the public interest. Now is the time for all of us to step up and do that right.

[weegee]

I've hit upon a good book title if someone wants to blow the lid off of the media shenanigans...

Power Ghraib

They exploited a criminal investigation to smear the administration and the war effort.

They did it to try to seize power of the government.

They "raped" the President and his supporters' character to do so.

Unfortunately, the left didn't pay attention to the Bride in Kill Bill...

We're still here (the pajama people) and we will see the media pundits ousted from their desks if not put in jail over the collusion with the DNC. It was pure abuse of power and possibly criminal (what else are forged documents containing the signature of a military officer)?

This could be bigger than Watergate by the time it is over.

Ain't payback a b!tch?

[weegee]

Compound this eye opening news with the Oil For Food scandal (UN and non-Ally corruption) and the whole policy against going to war in Iraq blows up in the left's face.

We've got to get the world on the same page politically (America is not the "ENEMY" and neither are "CORPORATIONS") so that we can fight side by side against the current threat to Western civilization and that is Islamic terrorism.

Does this mean we have to agree on domestic issues? No. Lawmakers will still debate laws on the floors of Congress (state and federal).

Does this mean we have to rout out all of the corrupt politicians in Europe? That is for their citizens to decide in elections or criminal proceedings.

Does this mean we have to bring about regime change in the muslim nations? Not at all. We DO need to eradicate state sponsorship of international terrorism (this is what is meant by "you are either with us or against us").

Does this mean that there will be world peace when the "war on terrorism" is finished? No. There are currently 34 armed conflicts (wars) going on in the world (at least by several tallies), some are internal to a nation. War will continue to be with us unfortunately. A more pressing question is how many of those conflicts are we currently involved in and how many of them involved muslims?

One of the things that must occur in order to end the war on Islamic terrorism is for muslims to have an Islamic reformation movement. Some will say that they have no association with radical Islam but that does not go far enough. They need to bring about change from within. No more jihad (physical holy war), no more nations under Islamic law (end the 3 classes of people under Islamic law: muslims, Jews/Christians, and "everybody else"), religious freedom for all (free to convert in and out of Islam, free to depict Mohammed any which way).

I see far more outrage and outspoken muslim critics of mosques/clerics that accept practicing homosexuals than I do of those mosques/clerics that teach violence, dominance, superiority, antiSemitism, etc. This is the "religion of peace"?

Some may bring up Christianity's own unappealing periods. Christianity WENT through a reformation hundreds of years ago. Islam has not (and some say that a true reading of the Koran PREVENTS such tampering).

Other organizations/practitioners besides muslims engage in terrorism but the chief threat to continued existence comes from the Islamic terrorists. Some may point to the Oklahoma City bombing as evidence of another looming threat but there are still some unfinished threads in that attack (John Doe #2). Also Bill Clinton's administration hounded "right wing extremists" for years after that. Where was the "next attack" (or even "big catch") as he harassed his political critics? Don't forget to include the environmentalist movement's terrorists, PETA's terrorists, the antiglobalist anarchists' terrorists...

No the war on terrorism is not just a war on Islamic terrorists. Unfortunately with state sponsorship of Islamic terrorism (seeking weapons of mass destruction that are biological, chemical, and/or nuclear) it remains the terrorist threat poised to do the most harm to the most people.

Some leftists may state that corporations affect more people. Do these corporations/governments DELIBERATELY poison rivers or gun down children?

To keep infighting while the wolf is at the door is at our own peril.

[weegee]

Another link to identify just how Zogby's name came to stand for this technique:

ZOGBY's DELUSIONS
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/1270705/posts?

Polling firm Zogby International accurately predicted President Bush's Ohio victory, as well as the defeat of Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in South Dakota, and accurately forecast the outcome of every Senate race in our final battleground poll, conducted October 29 through November 1, 2004. The margin of error was +/- 4.1 percentage points.

PRESIDENTIAL VOTE -2004

STATE BUSH KERRY

CO-Actual 53% 46% CO-Zogby 49% 47%

FL-Actual 52% 47% FL-Zogby 48% 48%

IA-Actual 50% 49% IA-Zogby 45% 50%

MI-Actual 48% 51% MI-Zogby 46% 52%

MN-Actual 48% 51% MN-Zogby 45% 51%

NV-Actual 51% 48% NV-Zogby 50% 45%

NM-Actual 50% 49% NM-Zogby 48% 51%

OH-Actual 51% 49% OH-Zogby 49% 43%

PA-Actual 49% 51% PA-Zogby 46% 50%

WI-Actual 49% 50% WI-Zogby 45% 51%

** Zogby FINAL Oct. 29-Nov. 1, MOE +/- 4.1

SENATE RACES

DASCHLE THUNE SD-Actual 49% 51% SD-Zogby 46% 48% Oct 25-26 MOE +/- 3.5

SALAZAR COORS CO-Actual 51% 47% CO-Zogby 52% 44% Oct 29-Nov 1 MOE +/- 4.1

MARTINEZ CASTOR FL-Actual 50% 48% FL-Zogby 48% 43% Oct 29-Nov 1 MOE +/- 4.1

GRASSLEY SMALL IA-Actual 70% 28% IA-Zogby 69% 20% Oct 29-Nov 1 MOE +/- 4.1

REID ZISER NV-Actual 61% 35% NV-Zogby 57% 34% Oct 29-Nov 1 MOE +/- 4.1

VOINOVICH FINGERHUT OH-Actual 64% 36% OH-Zogby 56% 32% Oct 29-Nov 1 MOE +/- 4.1

SPECTER HOEFFEL PA-Actual 53% 42% PA-Zogby 53% 32% Oct 29-Nov 1 MOE +/- 4.1

FEINGOLD MICHELS WI-Actual 56% 44% WI-Zogby 58% 38% Oct 29-Nov 1 MOE +/- 4.1

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He claims that he called it right. Uhm...Didn't he predict Kerry to win more than 300 votes? In what universe is he? His defense of his predictions shows that he knows he is f-----.

[weegee]

Here's a post from me that actually addresses one of the points in the article...

It's an election year -- and everything's debatable.

According to the press, even the content of this photo was debatable. The left said that it was "proof" that President Bush cheated in the debate that they also claim he did miserably in (Which way is it? Too good of a performance or he was unprepared?)

Unfortunately "facts are funny things" there is no "debating" whether he had a radio transmitter on or not. Either he DID or DIDN'T. You can debate points of opinion but facts are not determined by popular poll (i.e. "if we all agree it was a receiver, then it MUST be a receiver").

Here is another photo of Mr. President:

Same type of buldge. Accepted now as being a strap to hold his bulletproof vest in place.

[weegee]

People need to realize that the Democrats wanted to win the election more than they want to win the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism. THINK of all that misplaced energy and wasted time and money.

Bush-Hating Groups Paid $100,000,000 an Electoral Vote

FNC's popular "Fox & Friends" program this morning noted that Bush-hating groups spent up to $400,000,000 to try to defeat him and that the only state Democrats gained from 2000 was wee New Hampshire (and barely that).