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Celebrities ask Bush to stop war rhetoric [pass the sick bag alert]
Salon ^ | December 10, 2002 | Associated Press

Posted on 12/10/2002 4:41:20 PM PST by ejdrapes

Celebrities ask Bush to stop war rhetoric
By Anthony Breznican

Dec. 10, 2002 | LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Celebrities mobilized against a possible war in Iraq on Tuesday, gathering to publicize a letter urging President Bush to avoid military action.

More than 100 entertainers signed the missive, which says a war with Iraq will ``increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks, damage the economy and undermine our moral standing in the world."

``This notion of pre-emptive war is setting a precedent ... and we must ask ourselves, where does this end?" said Tony Shalhoub, star of the ABC detective show ``Monk." ``Where is the next pre-emptive strike?"

Shalhoub, Martin Sheen and Mike Farrell were among nearly a dozen performers who got together to draw attention to their cause.

Farrell, who's co-starred in the television series ``M-A-S-H" and ``Providence," said Hollywood was speaking out to show average citizens that it's OK to voice dissent. He also said he did not believe that Bush has proven Iraq is a danger to America.

``It is inappropriate for the administration to trump up a case in which we are ballyhooed into war," Farrell said.

Among those signing the letter were Academy Award winners Kim Basinger, Helen Hunt, Olympia Dukakis, Susan Sarandon and director Jonathan Demme.

Other names included former ``X-Files" stars Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny; ``The West Wing" cast members Sheen, Janel Moloney, Bradley Whitford and Lily Tomlin; ``CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" actors Marg Helgenberger and Robert David Hall; and ``Ocean's Eleven" co-stars Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Elliott Gould and Carl Reiner.

R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe, Peter Buck and Mike Mills joined fellow musicians Peter Yarrow and Bonnie Raitt.

Bush has threatened military force against Saddam, saying the dictator has amassed weapons of mass destruction that pose a danger to the United States. U.N. weapons inspectors are searching the Middle Eastern country for such devices but have turned up little so far.

Sheen, who plays the president on ``The West Wing," said he believed Bush was eager to go to war with Iraq because he wanted to settle a personal score with Saddam Hussein.

When Bush's father was president, he ended Saddam's invasion of Kuwait but did not eliminate him in the Gulf War.

``I think he'd like to hand his father Saddam Hussein's head and win his approval for what happened after the Gulf War. That's my own personal opinion _ I don't know if that's true. I hope it's not, but I suspect it is," Sheen said.

Asked why the government should care about the feelings of Hollywood actors, Sheen said: ``I think the president should care about all citizens."


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: activistactors; antiamerican; antiamericanwar; antibush; antiwar; notinourtheaters
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Saw the list of celebs supporting this...not many "a" list celebrities on the list...some of 'em I never even heard of.
1 posted on 12/10/2002 4:41:20 PM PST by ejdrapes
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To: ejdrapes; mtngrl@vrwc
OK kids. Please circulate their names so I can send all of them letters telling them I'll never see any of their movies again.

(uh oh please god don't let Russell Crowe be on that list....)
2 posted on 12/10/2002 4:43:12 PM PST by lawgirl
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To: ejdrapes
Bush's response: "Nuts".
3 posted on 12/10/2002 4:43:54 PM PST by Hoosier-Daddy
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To: lawgirl
Most of them are little known has beens, trying to do something to get their names in the news.
4 posted on 12/10/2002 4:45:15 PM PST by per loin
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To: ejdrapes
``increase the likelihood of terrorist attacks,"

I keep hearing this Saudi talking point, but see no proof. And it's illogical.

"damage the economy

I thought we're doing this for cheap oil. Can't these guys keep on track?

undermine our moral standing in the world.

Huh? What standing? The rest of the world is blatantly immoral. Anyway, it will improve our standing in Iraq greatly.

5 posted on 12/10/2002 4:45:28 PM PST by Shermy
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To: ejdrapes
Legendary SF author Ursula K. LeGuin led a march in Portland, Ore., on Dec. 6 to deliver a writers' and artists' petition against war on Iraq to Oregon Rep. David Wu. The march was part of a weekly peace rally hosted by the Portland Peaceful Response Coalition, an antiwar group.

LeGuin (The Lathe of Heaven) led a group of 50 protesters from Portland's Pioneer Square to Wu's office, where she expressed her gratitude for Wu's vote against a proposed war and urged that the congressman continue to do all that he could to stop military action. She also presented Wu with a petition signed by more than 225 writers, including SF&F authors Terry Bisson, Jeffrey Ford, James Patrick Kelly, SCI FICTION editor Ellen Datlow, Karen Joy Fowler, Michael Moorcock, John Kessel, Lisa Goldstein and Kelly Link.

6 posted on 12/10/2002 4:46:15 PM PST by Paul Atreides
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To: ejdrapes
"Hollywood" puts it's collective I.Q. on display once again...those frigging idiots just can't help themselves, can they?
7 posted on 12/10/2002 4:46:56 PM PST by ErnBatavia
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To: ejdrapes
Let's see....maybe W should investigate the rampant drug use, pedophelia, child pornography, rape, molestation, sexual harassment, racism, links to organized crime, links to radical leftist causes, fraud, corruption, etc. going on in Hollywood.
8 posted on 12/10/2002 4:48:56 PM PST by Paul Atreides
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To: ejdrapes
I find the decision I made to not watch network TV and popular movies some 15 years ago to be particularly gratifying at moments like this. I've never forgiven Hollywood for turning on us during Vietnam and its aftermath.

Besides, I find most of these people to be intellectually inferior to your average conservative.
9 posted on 12/10/2002 4:49:43 PM PST by x1stcav
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To: ejdrapes
Too bad, I always liked Tony Shaloub's work...up until now.

Every time I see a bunch of these empty-headed actors or bubble-boy academics throwing a hissy fit about Bush's hard line with Saddam, it makes me furious. They think they are so damn smart, and they're such idiots, they can't even see how their tactics do nothing but embolden terrorists. The mere threat of attack, backed up by a president who actually means what he says, has forced Saddam to start complying with U.N. sanctions he'd been ignoring for years under the brilliant leadership of their favorite president, Bill Clinton, who could only be considered a genius by the loose standards used for applying that term in Hollywood.

It's as if Bush were playing in the world poker championships in Vegas for the highest possible stakes against the toughest players in the world, and he had a bunch of ten-year-olds standing behind him, jumping up and down and whining, "But you can't raise! You only have a pair of twos!"

Thank you for helping, dinkwads!

10 posted on 12/10/2002 4:49:51 PM PST by HHFi
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To: ErnBatavia
Once they stray off of a script, their so-called "brilliance" evaporates.
11 posted on 12/10/2002 4:50:11 PM PST by Paul Atreides
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To: ejdrapes
why the government should care about the feelings of Hollywood actors?

That pretty much says it all for me!

12 posted on 12/10/2002 4:50:14 PM PST by SeenTheLight
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To: ejdrapes
"Farrell, who's co-starred in the television series ``M-A-S-H" and ``Providence," said Hollywood was speaking out to show average citizens that it's OK to voice dissent. He also said he did not believe that Bush has proven Iraq is a danger to America. "

Like the UN, Germany, 'Rats and presstitutes, W has set up the elites for a fall. Once the inspection charade has finished, the goods will be revealed and the real deal begins. What a bunch of silly and simple people these actors and actresses are.....

13 posted on 12/10/2002 4:50:15 PM PST by eureka!
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To: eureka!
Could we let Saddam test his nukes out on Hollywood? That is, after we evacuate all of the conservatives.
14 posted on 12/10/2002 4:52:22 PM PST by Paul Atreides
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To: ejdrapes

Mike Farrell, honorary member of the Paul Begala Forehead Admiration Foundation.

15 posted on 12/10/2002 4:52:45 PM PST by Lizavetta
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To: ejdrapes
Wow Salon is at .05 per share...


16 posted on 12/10/2002 4:53:39 PM PST by Drango
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To: ejdrapes
These same commies were screaming and protesting when Clinton was ready to hit Iraq in '98. The protests were similar to that of the 60's-- nearly rioting. It was horrible.... oh wait, that never happened then, did it?
17 posted on 12/10/2002 4:56:45 PM PST by Mark
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To: ejdrapes
Whenever I want educated and informed opinions on anything important, I always look to Hollywood. (/stupidity)
18 posted on 12/10/2002 4:57:39 PM PST by Feiny
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To: lawgirl
I think they should all go to Iraq and entertain the Republican Guard, if they really want to show their displeasure with the president's policy. A mid-January tour would be appropriate.
19 posted on 12/10/2002 4:57:51 PM PST by rabidralph
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To: Paul Atreides
Re#14 They are asking for it. Hollywood signifies much to be hated in the eyes of the Islamist fanatics and is probably one of al Queda's prime targets. But then, if it is hit after Saddam is taken out, the refrain will be "it was Bush's fault for attacking Iraq". *sigh*
20 posted on 12/10/2002 4:58:06 PM PST by eureka!
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