Posted on 02/06/2003 3:04:28 PM PST by God'sgrrl
NC Freepers,
As most of you know, I started a petition to speak out against the Hollywood so called ant-war movement. We all know that the movement is anti-Bush.
A reader wrote to Greensboro's News and Record charging me with wanting to silence celebrities and to refuse their freedom of speech.
This has never been the case and celebrity (the left) supporters know this, it's the only argument they can make against my petition.
My husband Scott responded to the reader, and wouldn't you know it, the News and Record called my husband and said that his letter could not be published because he was a member of my family!
aaaaaargh, can you believe that???
The petition is getting alot of National attention, and liberals don't like it when mainstream America speaks up and their lies are exposed.
Press on, Lori B
The editorial section of the News & Record contains a panel of citizens who are asked to express their opinions on a question of the day. One of the persons on the panel is a woman named Lori Bardsley. While watching a news broadcast on the night of January 19 on WXII Channel 12, a story aired featuring Bardsley and a petition drive she has begun.
Her petition drive is entitled "Citizens Against Celebrity Pundits." Its aim is to "...stand against wealthy Hollywood celebrities for abusing their status to speak for us." During the newscast actors Jessica Lange, Martin Sheen, Mike Farrell and Sean Penn were cited by Bardsley, as examples of celebrity "pundits" who should be silenced for questioning the wisdom of President Bush's war plans in Iraq. Bardsley goes on to say that these celebrities and others are adversely influencing our youth to be disrespectful of presidential authority and contributing to the perception that our country is less than unified in what our actions in Iraq should be.
I find it very troubling that Bardsley, who enjoys her First Amendment right to free speech by appearing in the News & Record and on TV, does not feel the same rights should be extended to others. I would remind Bardsley that the oppressive regimes of Iraq and North Korea do exactly what she is calling for, denying free speech to all of its citizens. Is this really the path she wants the country to go down?
I urge people to go to www.ipetitions.com and scroll down to "Citizens Against Celebrity Pundits" to see for themselves what Bardsley is attempting to do.
Robert L. Costello,
Scott's rejected response:
I'd like to respond to the letter "Using Free Speech to Silence Others" by Robert Costello where he claims Lori Bardsley says celebrity pundits "should be silenced" and not have the right to free speech. What you say, Mr. Costello, would be very effective in discrediting Mrs. Bardsley except for one problem. You see, Mrs. Bardsley never once said these things that you claim. Mrs. Bardsley is not against anyone's right to speak. She does, however, feel what these celebrities say is shortsighted and presented so to imply it represents the beliefs of most Americans.
For me, the worst thing about what they say is the way they say it. George Clooney says "the government itself is running exactly like the Sopranos" while Ed Asner implies the US is no better morally than Iraq. Susan Sarandon says our leaders are “oil men more interested in a financial bottom line than a moral bottom line". Meanwhile, Bill Maher says "if we drove smaller cars, maybe we wouldn't have to kill them for their oil because certainly the first Gulf War was about cheap gas” then says that Bush "...has really done so little to fight terrorism".
You may choose to believe these statements. I, having studied the issue however, choose to trust this administration and will support them as they determine the best actions to protect innocent citizens from further terrorist attacks. I will vocally stand behind our troops and their mission as they disarm a murderous dictator.
Scott Bardsley
In short, if your image has a market value -- if it is your employment -- then you have an unfair advantage in your ability to donate something of monetary value for free. This playing field needs to be leveled (since liberals love leveling, they should be all for this).
Way to go!WorldNetDaily.com
HOLLYWOOD VS. AMERICA
Hidden agenda for anti-war celeb 'pundits'?
Mom's effort to counter 'hypocritical' push by stars gains steam
Posted: February 7, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern
By Diana Lynne
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
As more Hollywood stars take up the role of anti-war activist, more citizens are throwing their support behind a grass-roots effort to counter the weight of the celebrities' voices, and to the organizer of the effort that means exposing the stars' hidden agenda.
Some 10,000 people have signed an online petition entitled "Citizens Against Celebrity 'Pundits'" since it was posted by a North Carolina mother little more than a month ago.
As WorldNetDaily reported, Lori Bardsley accuses celebrity "pundits," as she calls them, of using their celebrity to interfere with the defense of the country.
"Anti-war activism is hip, but Sept. 11th was real," said Bardsley. "On Sept. 11th, our children were threatened. We expect President Bush to take whatever measures necessary to keep us safe," she added.
"We support President Bush in his efforts to defend our homeland, to defend democracy and to take any measures to end the threat of terrorism. We do not claim to know more than anyone, especially President Bush. We elect a president who we can trust to make proper decisions based on facts available to him and not available to the rest of us," reads Bardsley's petition.
The 38-year-old mother of three told WND she was angered into action by the open letter signed by actors Mike Farrell, Martin Sheen and more than 100 other Tinsel Town pals asking President Bush to back down on Iraq.
Artists United To Win Without War declared in its letter: "A pre-emptive military invasion of Iraq will harm American national interests. Such a war will increase human suffering, arouse animosity toward our country, increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks, damage the economy, and undermine our moral standing in the world. It will make us less, not more, secure. ... The valid U.S. and U.N. objective of disarming Saddam Hussein can be achieved through legal diplomatic means. There is no need for war."
Farrell, best known for his role of wise-cracking, martini-drinking M*A*S*H surgeon B.J. Hunnicut, co-founded the group. He describes the Bush administration's stance against Iraqi President Saddam Hussein as "the height of arrogance" because it implies the U.S. has determined itself to be "the chosen people of the world who can determine for themselves who are good, who are bad, who are right, and who are wrong, and smite them when we choose."
Academy Award-winner Dustin Hoffman became the latest actor to voice his opposition to war with Iraq, accusing Bush of manipulating the post-Sept. 11 events to justify war.
"For me as an American, the most painful aspect of this is that I believe that the administration has taken the events of Sept. 11 and has manipulated the grief of the country, and I think that's reprehensible," Hoffman said Wednesday after accepting a lifetime achievement award at the Empire Film Awards in London.
"I believe – though I may be wrong because I am no expert – that this war is about what most wars are about: hegemony, money, power and oil," he continued.
As WND reported, Hoffman is not the only Hollywood star traveling to foreign countries and bad-mouthing American foreign policy while away. In December, actor Danny Glover, known for his "Lethal Weapon" roles with Mel Gibson, and singer Harry Belafonte, sounded similar criticism while visiting a Cuban film festival. Belafonte accused the Bush administration of using the Sept. 11 terror attacks "to extend its imperialist, economic and political domination all over the planet."
Actor-director Sean Penn also made headlines in December by traveling to Baghdad to gain ''a deeper understanding of the conflict.''
"If there's going to be blood on the hands of the United States, whether some people feel it's justified or not, that blood is going to be on my hands, too. And I'm determined that it's not going to be invisible blood," Penn declared.
Appreciating the matinee idols' First Amendment right of free speech, Bardsley told WND she welcomes their opinions and isn't seeking to silence them. But she feels they don't speak for most Americans.
"For so long celebrities have had an impact on our kids and society in general and we've given them too much time to control the message," Bardsley told WND.
And that message is anti-conservative and anti-Republican, she says. Bardsley sees a hypocrisy in the fact that these anti-war actors remained silent in 1999 when former President Bill Clinton ordered massive air strikes against Serbia.
But what goads Bardsley the most is that she sees the anti-war stance as a sham.
"I feel there's an underlying pro-choice agenda behind this," she said. "Even if ... Bush baked a cake and had tea with Saddam Hussein, the whole crisis ended successfully, the stock market soared and everybody was happy with the economy, they would still criticize Bush because he's pro-life. There isn't anything the man can do to make them happy."
Bardsley pointed out that the attacks coming from the celluloid crowd are growing increasingly personal.
At the Hollywood news conference launching the open letter, Martin Sheen, who impersonates a U.S. president on "The West Wing," said: "I think [Bush] would like to hand his father Saddam Hussein's head and win his approval for what happened after the Gulf War."
Bardsley also maintains that if you watch the interviews closely, the celebrities often wind up bringing up the "pro-choice" issue.
She cited the example of actor Ed Harris' recent anti-Bush diatribe at a gathering celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision.
"Being a man, I've got to say that we've got this guy in the White House who thinks he is a man, you know, who projects himself as a man. Because he has a certain masculinity and he's a good old boy and he used to drink and he knows how to shoot a gun and drive a pickup truck, et cetera, like that. That's not the definition of a man, g--------."
Why is Bardsley so concerned about what she sees as the hidden agenda behind the pacificism?
Bardsley admits having grown up heavily under the influence of Hollywood as a teen-ager and feels that influence taught her to view abortion as an acceptable form of birth control.
"I remember cheering in front of the television as I watched Gloria Steinem and her Hollywood friends march in D.C. for choice. It would be many years later that I would have three abortions in place of birth control and end up with complicated pregnancies as a result of my choice," she said.
What turned Bardsley around was hearing the heartbeat of her fourth baby. Now, she's committed to countering the Hollywood influence for her children.
Since WND's article, Bardsley has conducted nearly a dozen interviews and has been flooded with e-mails, mostly from mothers as frustrated as herself. Bardsley said the response has been overwhelming.
"People don't think they can make a difference, but they can," she said.
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