Lange Lets Loose Against Bush Again in Commencement Address (Jessica is at it again)

MRC ^ | Monday May 19, 2003 | BrentBaker

[fight_truth_decay]

Actress Jessica Lange used her commencement address at Marlboro College in Vermont on Sunday, from which her daughter was graduating, to denounce the Bush administration. The Rutland Herald reported that "she likened the war in Iraq to Richard Nixon's 'ruthless' bombing of Vietnam. She said executive orders and judicial appointments were eroding women's rights."

The Brattleboro Reformer relayed how she charged: "'Once again, the poorest and most disadvantage are the ones being left behind,' she said, a play on the title of the Bush administration's education law, No Child Left Behind."

...Sunday afternoon commencement in Marlboro, Vermont, an excerpt from the May 19 story by Rutland Herald Reporter Peter Crabtree:

In a speech that mixed the personal and the political, actress Jessica Lange urged the Marlboro College Class of 2003 to battle injustice while remaining alive to the moment Sunday.

A Hollywood star by way of rural Minnesota, Lange quoted another artist from that state when conferring her blessings on the 74 graduates, one of her whom was her daughter.

"I wish you all the courage to have an adventurous heart," Lange told an overflow crowd at the Person's Auditorium. "And as Dylan said, 'May you stay forever young.'"...

Shura Lange Baryshnikov, whose father, dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov, attended the graduation ceremony, wrote about the role of women in the United States, with an emphasis on issues surrounding motherhood.

Lange cited that project when telling an anecdote about filming a movie recently in Montgomery, Ala. When returning from the set, she passed a strip mall that contained a day-care center. A sign outside the center boasted that it was open until midnight.

"It made me very sad," Lange said.

Lange said she felt for both the children at the center and the parents forced to consign them there so they could most likely work minimum-wage jobs.

"Something's really terribly wrong," Lange said, noting that the United States has the highest rate of childhood poverty among major nations.

Lange went on to condemn the Bush administration's foreign and domestic policies. She likened the war in Iraq to Richard Nixon's "ruthless" bombing of Vietnam. She said executive orders and judicial appointments were eroding women's rights.

The public schools, meanwhile, are being forced to meet tough new standards at the same time that Washington is denying them the resources they need. As for the environment, the national forests are being logged at an alarming rate.

"The list goes on and on and on and on," Lange said. "Now is the time to be vigilant. Now is the time to act. This is the world you are inheriting."

While she urged the graduates to take social action, Lange also offered them some advice with a Buddhist flavor.

"Just be present," she said. "Don't be rigid in your expectations."...

Sounding like Dylan again, Lange urged her audience to be "receptive to the winds of change."

"Everything is transient. Everything is constantly changing," Lange said. "The only thing we really have is now."...

END of Excerpt

For the story in full:

http://www.rutlandherald.com/News/SouthernVermont/Story/65664.html

An excerpt from the May 19 Brattleboro Reformer story by Daniel Barlow:

Criticism of President Bush, hope for a better future and repeated odes to the quickly changing times marked the 56th commencement ceremony at Marlboro College Sunday as the school awarded 74 degrees.

The ceremony, which featured a speech by Academy Award-winning actress Jessica Lange, was also the last for college president Paul LeBlanc, who announced last month he would step down after seven years....

The big draw of the day was Lange, whose daughter, Shura Baryshnikov graduated from the college that day with a bachelor's degree in American studies and women's studies.

Lange compared the graduating seniors of today to where she was after finishing college in 1972. Then, the Vietnam War was in its seventh year and President Nixon had authorized bombs that killed thousands of civilians all in the name of stopping the communists.

Today, she said, President Bush authorizes the dropping of bombs to kill thousands in the name of stopping Saddam Hussein.

But Iraq is not the only battlefield in the world right now, she said. Women's reproductive rights, civil liberties and the health and education of children all over the world are under attack, she said.

Lange said she recently drove past a child care center in Minnesota and saw a sign saying "Now open until midnight." She said the sight made her feel bad for the children who are raised without seeing their parents and for the parents who have to work menial jobs in order to survive.

"Once again, the poorest and most disadvantage are the ones being left behind," she said, a play on the title of the Bush administration's education law, No Child Left Behind....

END of Excerpt

For the story in its entirety:

http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8862~1400774,00.html

Notice any differing facts in the two news articles?

Rutland Herald: "Lange cited that project when telling an anecdote about filming a movie recently in Montgomery, Ala. When returning from the set, she passed a strip mall that contained a day-care center. A sign outside the center boasted that it was open until midnight.

Brattleboro Reformer: "Lange said she recently drove past a child care center in Minnesota and saw a sign saying "Now open until midnight."

Alabama or Minnesota? Their climates are so similar! Either one reporter misquoted her, or she sees a lot of day care centers that are open late.

Marlboro College's Web site, which may at some point post the text of Lange's remarks: http://www.marlboro.edu

[bray]

Poor aging Hollywierd airhead who's talents are sagging speaks out on something she knows nothing about. Unlike Vietnam we didn't listen to these commie clowns and saved a few hundred thousand from Saddam's killing fields.

Hope she poured all her money into solon stock?

Pray for GW and the Truth

[fight_truth_decay]

Founded in 1946, Marlboro is a four-year, private, coeducational liberal arts college located on a 360-acre campus in southern Vermont. Marlboro’s 300 students—60 percent women and 40 percent men—are taught by 40 faculty members.

Over a third of Marlboro students study abroad before graduating, compared to a national average of 4 percent. Marlboro students have studied or interned in 67 countries around the world. Marlboro students have excellent role models; every regular Marlboro faculty member has conducted research abroad in the past five years. Huron University, Marlboro’s London-based academic partner, specializes in international relations with its 240 students from 60 countries.

http://www.marlboro.edu/about/international.html

2003-2004 Academic Year Expenses Financial Summary
Tuition: $20,950
Fees: 680
Room: 3,975
Board: 3,450
Total: $29,055

[Chi-townChief]

Ms. Lange should stick with flashing her breasts at King Kong.

[narby]

"she likened the war in Iraq to Richard Nixon's 'ruthless' bombing of Vietnam.

Operation Linebacker II in December 72 is what ended the Vietnam war you twit. It only lasted 12 days. Vietnam could have been ended at any time from 1965 on had we had the brass to execute Linebacker II early(which was on the drawing boards back then).

The Communist takeover in 1975, and the resulting hundreds of thousands who were forced out of Vietnam and the 2-3 million who died in Cambodia and SE asia around that time would have never happened if we had continued a credible threat to run Linebacker III. But Mz. Lange wouldn't have liked that. She prefered millions of dead non-communist people to the threat of perhaps a few thousand dead communists.

These people make me sick.

[Cincinatus]

Just be present," she said. "Don't be rigid in your expectations."...
Sounding like Dylan again, Lange urged her audience to be "receptive to the winds of change."
"Everything is transient. Everything is constantly changing," Lange said. "The only thing we really have is now."...

Oh, like, ... wow, man......heavy. Very heavy.

[Afronaut]

KIng Kong should have ate her when he had the chance. SHe is long in the tooth these days.

[fight_truth_decay]

"The Deck of Weasels"

[Paul Atreides]

Jessica, crawl back under your rock, you wrinkled old has-been.

BTW, wasn't Baryshnikov a big supporter of the Reagans?

[tom paine 2]

And both parents have to work because the tax system is so onerous. Also divorced parents have no back up to watch the kid while mom or dad works. She is a real dunce.

[Paul Atreides]

What are her credentials that she should be doing commencement speeches at universities--her Academy Award?

Her credentials are that she hates President Bush.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Ditto.

[babaloo999]

I'm old enough to remember. Perhaps Ms. Lang isn't.

Oh, she's definitely old enough to remember, and then some. It's just faulty memory, or Alzheimer's.

[nfldgirl]

Criticism of President Bush, ...

Let's see, there was:
Phil Donahue at NC State U.
Billy Jeff Clinton at Tougaloo U. (sp?)
Jessica Lange at Marlboro College

Who else? Who else can we add to this growing list of college commencement Bush-bashers? Hmmmmm?

FWIW, Bill Cosby was commencement speaker at Hampton University, Hampton, VA and from what I had heard was reported in the local paper, he spoke very eloquently, focusing on the graduates, emphasizing that they would/could experience a promising future by presenting/conducting themselves with self-respect, decency, dignity, honor, assuming total responsibility for their actions/decisions, etc. In other words, not blaming others; not playing the role of victims, etc.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Or perhaps that "short term memory loss," related to killer weed.

[Publius6961]

Isn't this the same chick who has been in the padded room a few times?

[Uncle Hal]

I beleive it was Jessica Lange, Jane Fonda, and Sally Field that testified in front of a congressional committtee about the plight of the poor farm women. Their qualifications were that they had played roles as poor farm women in the movies. These multi millionair actresses had to know as much about the condition of women living on farms as I do about brain surgary. It was very laughable and got them roundly ridiculed in the press and the butt of jokes by comics. These liberals never cease to amaze me.

[My2Cents]

Of course, we need to remember that the hearing they appeared at was when the Democrats still controlled Congress.

[geedee]

Jessica Lange, posing for photos . . .

[fight_truth_decay]

Bill Cosby

I have been fortunate to hear Cosby speak. He does project dignity, honor and self-respect with great touches of humor.

[fight_truth_decay]

I beleive it was Jessica Lange, Jane Fonda, and Sally Field that testified in front of a congressional committtee

. Even Kermit the Frog lobbied for a bill regulating the breeding and sale of exotic animals.