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“Fidel Castro could have been Cuba’s Elvis!” (Dan Rather.) “Fidel Castro is one hell of a guy! “You people would like him!” (Ted Turner to a capacity crowd at Harvard Law School during a speech in 1997.) “Fidel Castro is old-fashioned, courtly—even paternal, a thoroughly fascinating figure!” (Andrea Mitchell.) “Castro has brought very high literacy and great health-care to his country. His personal magnetism is powerful, his presence is commanding.” (Barbara Walters.) “Viva Fidel! Viva Che!” (Jesse Jackson while arm in arm with Fidel Castro himself in 1984.) "Fidel Castro is very shy and sensitive, I frankly like him and...

H’wood snubs Muslim Stone Sean Stone, son of controversial director Oliver Stone, converted to Islam in Iran last week and says he’s already experiencing a Hollywood backlash. The ceremony was held in Isfahan, where he is researching a documentary. He now goes by the name of Sean Christopher Ali Stone. He told Page Six: “I’ve already experienced the reverse of anti-Semitism, having people within the film industry express a reluctance to work with me now that I have said a simple prayer, ‘There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his messenger.’ I am sure I have [bleeped] off...

It is a common misconception that Allah is the same as the Biblical Jehovah/Yahweh. The name "Allah" was applied to a pagan Mid-Eastern tribal god long before Mohammed appeared on the scene. -- FaithIssues editor The son of controversial filmmaker Oliver Stone converted to Islam in the Iranian city of Isfahan on Valentine’s Day, then met with Iran’s leaders and declared his solidarity with their nuclear ambitions. “I am a Jewish Christian Muslim,” Sean Stone told CNN’s Piers Morgan on February 23rd. “I want to be able to understand all three religions and have a dialog with people all across...

Oliver Stone’s Son Converts to Islam, Defends Iranian Regime by Mark Ellis, Godreports The son of controversial filmmaker Oliver Stone converted to Islam in the Iranian city of Isfahan on Valentine’s Day, then met with Iran’s leaders and declared his solidarity with their nuclear ambitions. “I am a Jewish Christian Muslim,” Sean Stone told CNN’s Piers Morgan on February 23rd. “I want to be able to understand all three religions and have a dialog with people all across the board. We don’t need to fight each other because of the book.” Sean’s father won several Academy Awards for films such...

In the midst of all the important news stories competing for my attention lately, I found myself distracted the other day by what, at first blush at least, seemed a decidedly trivial one. Apparently there exists someone by the name of Sean Stone. He is twenty-seven years old, and is the son of Oliver Stone, the famous film director, writer, and outspoken fan of Hugo Chavez, Fidel Castro, and other charismatic totalitarians. Coincidentally, Sean Stone has also appeared in twelve of his father’s own movies, which means he is obviously an exceedingly talented young actor. Sean was born with the...

Sean Stone, the son of award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone, converted to Islam on Tuesday during a ceremony in the Iranian city of Isfahan. Taking the name “Ali,” Iranian news agencies report that the 27-year-old has converted to Shia Islam, which is practiced by the majority of Iranians. The son of a half-Jewish father and Christian mother, Stone told AFP today that his conversion “is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with,” but shows “I have accepted Mohammad and other prophets.” He has not, however, explained his reason for converting. Reuters reports that Stone is in Iran working...

A U.S. filmmaker who has a Jewish father and Christian mother today decided to convert to Islam in Iran, where he is making a documentary. But Sean Stone, 27, son of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, insisted the switch did not signal him abandoning the faiths of his parents. He became a Shiite Muslim on Tuesday and has reportedly chosen to be known by the first name of 'Ali', but will not reveal why he converted. ‘The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with,’ Mr Stone told news agency Agence France-Presse. ‘It means I...

.. US filmmaker Sean Stone, son of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, converted to Islam on Tuesday in Iran, where he is making a documentary, he told AFP. "The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with. It means I have accepted Mohammad and other prophets," he said in a brief telephone call from the central Iranian city of Isfahan, where he underwent the ceremony. Sean Stone's famous father is Jewish, while his mother is Christian. The 27-year-old filmmaker did not say why he converted. According to Iran's Fars news agency, Sean Stone had become...

US filmmaker Sean Stone, son of Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, converted to Islam on Tuesday in Iran, where he is making a documentary, he told AFP. "The conversion to Islam is not abandoning Christianity or Judaism, which I was born with. It means I have accepted Mohammad and other prophets," he said in a brief telephone call from the central Iranian city of Isfahan, where he underwent the ceremony. Sean Stone's famous father is Jewish, while his mother is Christian. The 27-year-old filmmaker did not say why he converted. According to Iran's Fars news agency, Sean Stone had become a...

TEHRAN -- Sean Stone, the son of U.S. filmmaker Oliver Stone, has converted to Islam in Iran. He went to the office of Shia cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Nasseri Dowlatabadi in the city of Isfahan on Tuesday and recited shahada, the Persian service of the Fars News Agency reported. The shahada is the Islamic profession of the faith, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger.” To convert to Islam, one simply has to recite this while believing it in one’s heart.

TEHRAN -- Sean Stone, the son of U.S. filmmaker Oliver Stone, has converted to Islam in Iran. He went to the office of Shia cleric Ayatollah Mohammad Nasseri Dowlatabadi in the city of Isfahan on Tuesday and recited shahada, the Persian service of the Fars News Agency reported. The shahada is the Islamic profession of the faith, “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is His messenger.” To convert to Islam, one simply has to recite this while believing it in one’s heart.

Filmmaker Oliver Stone, known for his liberal political views, said he would vote for GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul over President Obama should Paul win the Republican nomination. In an interview with Rock Cellar magazine, Stone was asked if an economic collapse would lead to the fall of the American “empire.” “I think it’s a given,” Stone said. “There’s no way that we can continue this spending spree. In fact, I think in many ways the most interesting candidate — I’d even vote for him if he was running against Obama — is Ron Paul. Because he’s the only one...

Sean Stone, son of Oliver, seems like a chip off the old block. Fresh off the plane from Tehran, the famous filmmaker's son defended Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in an interview this weekend and supported Iran’s right to a nuclear program as a defense against threats from Israel. The 26-year-old is a documentary filmmaker met exclusively with TheWrap at the Toronto Film Festival, offering some unconventional views. Criticizing the Iranian government is “like someone coming to your house and saying the father shouldn’t hit the kids,” he said. “Who are we to tell them how to rule their country?” “Iran...

The son of triple Oscar-winning director Oliver Stone, who annoyed Iranians with his 2004 movie "Alexander," is in Iran to make arrangements for a documentary, Iranian news agencies reported on Tuesday. "Sean Stone is in Iran to make arrangements for filming a documentary," the ILNA news agency quoted an Iranian film producer as saying. "He will talk about his plans on Wednesday." The Mehr news agency reported that Sean Stone would start searching for locations soon and was scheduled to be joined by his father in three weeks. Iran regarded Stone's "Alexander" as an affront to national pride and refused...

LA PAZ, Bolivia – President Evo Morales has been re-elected as head of Bolivia's largest coca-growers union, a post he has held for more than two decades. Morales was sworn in late Monday as head of the Six Federations of the Tropic of Cochabamba, which represents more than 40,000 growers. .. Morales called his leadership of the union largely "symbolic" but promised regular meetings. His re-election was criticized by opposition members, who said it was inappropriate given an apparent rise in drug trafficking violence.

Let’s just jump right into it, shall we? It’s 2008 – pre-financial crisis. Deposed goblin king Gordon Gekko (actual goblin king Michael Douglas) is out of prison, trying to warn Wall Street about the coming collapse, and looking to get his claws on some doubloons and such.

Twenty-three years ago in Wall Street, Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas created a memorable character, Gordon Gekko, who symbolized everything that was wrong about American business. Gekko begins by making his famous case for greed, which has since entered the vernacular: "greed is good. Greed works, greed is right. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed in all its forms, greed for life, money, love, knowledge, has marked the upward surge of mankind. . ." The film then reveals the wages of greed. Gekko takes over an airline by sweet-talking the union and some...

“You know, half the people in this place could be prosecuted.” Oliver Stone, the film director, was sitting across from me over a late lunch in the Grill Room of the Four Seasons restaurant in Midtown Manhattan last week. [SNIP] If one man epitomizes the populist view of Wall Street and corporate America, it is Mr. Stone, whose new film, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” opens next week. It is the sequel to his hit movie “Wall Street” in 1987. The original tapped into the zeitgeist of the moment — “Greed, for lack of a better word, is good,” as...

Why am I not surprised that a leading Hollywood director is bemoaning poor, misunderstood Adolf's place in history? Oliver Stone says his upcoming Showtime documentary series Secret History of America will put the 20th century's star butchers Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin "in context." That Hollywood would glorify Stalin is hardly a shock to anyone. If you go back to many Cold War-era movies, you will find tortured excuses — even fulsome praise — for Mother Russia. Only Nazi Germany was allowed to appear on the screen as evil incarnate. For decades, Hitler has been the perfect role model as...

Click here to find out more! It never ceases to amaze that Oliver Stone thinks Ronald Reagan was a dunce. When it comes to judging iron-fisted dictators and anti-American despots, Stone is the intellectually incurious simpleton. He thinks Reagan was stupid because he clung to an all-encompassing ideology. But so does Stone. He thinks every evil in the world came from corporations, especially American corporations, including those he uses to make himself millions. How else would you explain the (new) mess Stone (again) has made as he prepares a 10-part documentary for Showtime on "The Secret History of America," including...