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Senate Democratic leadership threatens Disney with legal and legislative sanctions
americablog.blogspot.com ^ | September 07, 2006 | John in DC

Posted on 09/07/2006 4:12:34 PM PDT by Mo1


Senate Democratic leadership threatens Disney with legal and legislative sanctions

by John in DC - 9/07/2006 06:02:00 PM

This letter was sent today by the entire Democratic leadership of the US Senate. This letter is such a major shot across the bow of Disney, it's not even funny. It is FILLED with veiled threats, both legal and legislative, against Disney. US Senators don't make threats like this, especially the entire Democratic leadership en masse, unless they mean it. Disney is in serious trouble.

Read it, then read my analysis of it below:
September 7, 2006

Mr. Robert A. Iger
President and CEO
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank CA 91521

Dear Mr. Iger,

We write with serious concerns about the planned upcoming broadcast of The Path to 9/11 mini-series on September 10 and 11. Countless reports from experts on 9/11 who have viewed the program indicate numerous and serious inaccuracies that will undoubtedly serve to misinform the American people about the tragic events surrounding the terrible attacks of that day. Furthermore, the manner in which this program has been developed, funded, and advertised suggests a partisan bent unbecoming of a major company like Disney and a major and well respected news organization like ABC. We therefore urge you to cancel this broadcast to cease Disney’s plans to use it as a teaching tool in schools across America through Scholastic. Presenting such deeply flawed and factually inaccurate misinformation to the American public and to children would be a gross miscarriage of your corporate and civic responsibility to the law, to your shareholders, and to the nation.

The Communications Act of 1934 provides your network with a free broadcast license predicated on the fundamental understanding of your principle obligation to act as a trustee of the public airwaves in serving the public interest. Nowhere is this public interest obligation more apparent than in the duty of broadcasters to serve the civic needs of a democracy by promoting an open and accurate discussion of political ideas and events.

Disney and ABC claim this program to be based on the 9/11 Commission Report and are using that assertion as part of the promotional campaign for it. The 9/11 Commission is the most respected American authority on the 9/11 attacks, and association with it carries a special responsibility. Indeed, the very events themselves on 9/11, so tragic as they were, demand extreme care by any who attempt to use those events as part of an entertainment or educational program. To quote Steve McPhereson, president of ABC Entertainment, “When you take on the responsibility of telling the story behind such an important event, it is absolutely critical that you get it right.”

Unfortunately, it appears Disney and ABC got it totally wrong.

Despite claims by your network’s representatives that The Path to 9/11 is based on the report of the 9/11 Commission, 9/11 Commissioners themselves, as well as other experts on the issues, disagree.

Richard Ben-Veniste, speaking for himself and fellow 9/11 Commissioners who recently viewed the program, said, “As we were watching, we were trying to think how they could have misinterpreted the 9/11 Commission’s findings the way that they had.” [“9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased,” New York Times, September 6, 2006]

Richard Clarke, the former counter-terrorism czar, and a national security advisor to ABC has described the program as “deeply flawed” and said of the program’s depiction of a Clinton official hanging up on an intelligence agent, “It’s 180 degrees from what happened.” [“9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased,” New York Times, September 6, 2006]

Reports suggest that an FBI agent who worked on 9/11 and served as a consultant to ABC on this program quit halfway through because, “he thought they were making things up.” [MSNBC, September 7, 2006]

Even Thomas Kean, who serves as a paid consultant to the miniseries, has admitted that scenes in the film are fictionalized. [“9/11 Miniseries Is Criticized as Inaccurate and Biased,” New York Times, September 6, 2006]

That Disney would seek to broadcast an admittedly and proven false recounting of the events of 9/11 raises serious questions about the motivations of its creators and those who approved the deeply flawed program. Finally, that Disney plans to air commercial-free a program that reportedly cost it $40 million to produce serves to add fuel to these concerns.

These concerns are made all the more pressing by the political leaning of and the public statements made by the writer/producer of this miniseries, Mr. Cyrus Nowrasteh, in promoting this miniseries across conservative blogs and talk shows.

Frankly, that ABC and Disney would consider airing a program that could be construed as right-wing political propaganda on such a grave and important event involving the security of our nation is a discredit both to the Disney brand and to the legacy of honesty built at ABC by honorable individuals from David Brinkley to Peter Jennings. Furthermore, that Disney would seek to use Scholastic to promote this misguided programming to American children as a substitute for factual information is a disgrace.

As 9/11 Commission member Jamie Gorelick said, “It is critically important to the safety of our nation that our citizens, and particularly our school children, understand what actually happened and why – so that we can proceed from a common understanding of what went wrong and act with unity to make our country safer.”

Should Disney allow this programming to proceed as planned, the factual record, millions of viewers, countless schoolchildren, and the reputation of Disney as a corporation worthy of the trust of the American people and the United States Congress will be deeply damaged. We urge you, after full consideration of the facts, to uphold your responsibilities as a respected member of American society and as a beneficiary of the free use of the public airwaves to cancel this factually inaccurate and deeply misguided program. We look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Sincerely,

Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid
Assistant Democratic Leader Dick Durbin
Senator Debbie Stabenow
Senator Charles Schumer
Senator Byron Dorgan
The Senate Democratic leadership just threatened Disney's broadcast license. Not the use of the word "trustee" at the beginning of the letter and "trust" at the end. This is nothing less than an implicit threat that if Disney tries to meddle in the US elections on behalf of the Republicans, they will pay a very serious price when the Democrats get back in power, or even before.

This raises the stakes incredibly for Disney.



TOPICS: Breaking News; Business/Economy; Government; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: 109th; 1stamendment; 2ndamendment; 911; abc; abcbestrong; abledanger; abuseofpower; americanhaters; antiamericanhaters; arkancide; assclowns; balsawoodliberals; benedictarnolds; bergertheftofdocs; binclintonalot; bjclinton; bluedress; boohoo; bookburners; brownshirts; callfbi; cantstandthetruth; castrolovers; censorship; cheaters; chinesecampaignmoney; clinton; clintonhitlist; clintonistas; clintonlegacy; clintonoids; communists; crimedimwitparty; crybabies; democratcensors; democratgestapo; democrats; demofascists; demosocialists; demseattheirown; dimwitscry; dimwitthreats; dirtyrats; disbarred; disney; enemywithin; fascists; fraud; freespeech; gaydaysatdisney; gestapo; gflowers; gorelickmemo; gorelickwall; gramsci; hatefuldimwits; heilhitler; hitler; impeached; intimidation; islamofascism; jfkjrkilledbyhill; jimguytucker; lawsuit; letbinladengo; liars; mao; monica; monicasdress; monicastain; mussolini; nationalsocialists; nazis; notruth; ovalofficestain; pathto911; paulajones; perjury; pinkocommies; popcorn; putsomeiceonit; rapedjuanita; repealmccainfeingold; roselawfirmrecords; sandyburglar; scumbags; sept11; september10thrats; sinkmeister; slickwillie; ss; stabenow; stalin; stalinists; thefinalsolution; thosecrazyrats; thosedirtyrats; toodangfunny; truthhurts; truthiskryptonite; unamerican; waronterror; whileclintonslept; whitewater; whokilledfoster; whokilledjfkjr; whoshotjr; wordsfailme
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To: mystery-ak

I think he quoted Rummy by saying Oh My Goodness .. LOL


161 posted on 09/07/2006 5:13:33 PM PDT by Mo1 (Think about it .. A Speaker Nancy Pelosi could be 2 seats away from being President)
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To: Peach

O'Reilly is addressing this now --- but apparently does not know about the thuggery letter.


162 posted on 09/07/2006 5:13:47 PM PDT by onyx (1 Billion Muslims -- "if" 10% are fundamentalists, that's still 100 Million who want to kill us.)
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To: Peach; All

Contact ABC. Tell them how out raged you are! Quote the constitution etc.


http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html


163 posted on 09/07/2006 5:14:16 PM PDT by hoosiermama
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To: Mariner

You know what at least part of this is about?

Clinton constantly said that Hillary was his co-president.

So this movie, if shown as is, will absolutely destroy any chance she has at the presidency.


164 posted on 09/07/2006 5:14:59 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: Peach
And I added to that the fact that the FBI was aggressively going after Microsoft with MUCH more aggression than they ever went after sleeper cells in this country.

Don't forget that the clinton-era FBI had the time and money to keep files on prominent pro-lifers, including John Cardinal O'Connor of New York.

165 posted on 09/07/2006 5:15:06 PM PDT by Campion ("I am so tired of you, liberal church in America" -- Mother Angelica, 1993)
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To: onyx

I'm listening.


166 posted on 09/07/2006 5:15:19 PM PDT by Peach (The Clintons pardoned more terrorists than they ever captured or killed.)
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To: Peach
Mr. Peach is a very wise man!
167 posted on 09/07/2006 5:15:33 PM PDT by Mo1 (Think about it .. A Speaker Nancy Pelosi could be 2 seats away from being President)
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To: Mo1

The DemonRats normally bow and scrape at the altar of Hollywood. Who did Disney piss off?


168 posted on 09/07/2006 5:15:41 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity ("A litany of complaints is not a plan." - GW Bush, referring to DNC's lack of a platform on ANYTHING)
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To: Prost1; Txsleuth; ohioWfan; Peach; bray
Is this serious or a joke? The democratic leadership threatening one of their major money backers and propanda tools? Unbelieveable!

Remember during the run-up to the campaign, when Peter Jennings tried to relate the truth about something to Bubba, and he goes "You don't want to go there...you don't want to go there, Peter...not after what YOU GUYS did..."

...and again, with Senator Golddigger (that's Kerry, for those in Rio Linda), after Charlie Gibson interviewed him on GMA, where Flipper made his infamous "medals and ribbons are absolutely interchangeable" comment, right before calling President Bush AWOL...remember at the end, when he thought his mike was off...Kerry said, "My God, they're doing the work of the Republican National Committee."

If a Republican - or anyone - telling the truth about a Leftist is cause for censorship, as this appears to be, we are ****ed as a nation.

169 posted on 09/07/2006 5:15:44 PM PDT by Christian4Bush ("Ma'am, you don't have to thank us. You just go beat him for us." Soldier to Irey re: Murtha)
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To: onyx

Good Lord, Gary Hart is his guest


170 posted on 09/07/2006 5:16:24 PM PDT by mystery-ak (My Son, My Soldier, My Hero..............)
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To: paudio

Yes, George Mitchell is in charge of Gay Days at Disney World.


171 posted on 09/07/2006 5:16:28 PM PDT by pleikumud
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To: bray
And the CommieCrats always claim to be for Freedom of Speech!

Oh, but they are...freedom of THEIR speech.

172 posted on 09/07/2006 5:16:31 PM PDT by Christian4Bush ("Ma'am, you don't have to thank us. You just go beat him for us." Soldier to Irey re: Murtha)
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To: onyx

Send it to him

See post 135 for e-mail address.


173 posted on 09/07/2006 5:16:56 PM PDT by hoosiermama
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To: Mo1
Countless reports from experts on 9/11 who have viewed the program indicate numerous and serious inaccuracies that will undoubtedly serve to misinform the American people about the tragic events surrounding the terrible attacks of that day.

In other words, it'll make Bubba Krinton look like the do-nothing slug that he is in the face of terrorism.

174 posted on 09/07/2006 5:17:01 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity ("A litany of complaints is not a plan." - GW Bush, referring to DNC's lack of a platform on ANYTHING)
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To: Mo1

Shouldn't they be working on FISA, NSA, and other terror related matters that the President asked them to? No...they're firing off mail to ABC about...a movie? What a joke these people are. It's all about them 24/friggin' 7!


175 posted on 09/07/2006 5:17:11 PM PDT by tsmith130
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To: mystery-ak
He's spinning what's left of his ass off.
Insignificant has been.
176 posted on 09/07/2006 5:18:05 PM PDT by onyx (1 Billion Muslims -- "if" 10% are fundamentalists, that's still 100 Million who want to kill us.)
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To: Howlin
Let's see if anybody can find a letter like this to Michael Moore.

Anybody?

Of course you won't find one. Letters to Michael Moore have to use only one- or two-syllable words so he can understand them.

177 posted on 09/07/2006 5:18:11 PM PDT by ItsForTheChildren
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To: Peach

"So this movie, if shown as is, will absolutely destroy any chance she has at the presidency."

..and any chance of HIS co-presidency.


178 posted on 09/07/2006 5:18:28 PM PDT by SeaBiscuit (God Bless America and All who protect and preserve this Great Nation.)
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To: onyx

It may have been sent out after BOR taped the show- otherwise he'd be blowing a gasket.


179 posted on 09/07/2006 5:18:30 PM PDT by SE Mom (Proud mom of an Iraq war combat vet-prayers for the kidnapped Israeli Soldiers)
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To: Mo1; advance_copy; Liberty Valance; babaloo; Kokojmudd; pollywog; princess leah; b4its2late; ...

Thanks for posting this, Mo1.

Clinton incompetence coverup *PING*

Everyone please *ping* your lists... this is deadly serious -- we need to spread it around.


180 posted on 09/07/2006 5:18:56 PM PDT by Fudd Fan ("The purpose of the UN is to ensure that the U.S. never wins another war." -HonestConservative)
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