Bumper sticker from www.Jarabina.com
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
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.
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
This raises the stakes incredibly for Disney.
It's on Dingy Harry Reid's website, as a press release. At least it was a couple of hours ago.
Wow.
Look at that list of names.
Wow.
NICE find:)
Bumper sticker from www.Jarabina.com
They could care less, the have the DBM at their disposal and they are desperate. Seeing no opposition to stop them, there is really no reason not to do what they did.
This movie is the gift that keeps on giving. The fact that the Dems have been so publicly identified as totalitarian dictators is just priceless.
"Stepford people" - great call. If that is not the truth, I guess I believe Clintoon that oral sex is not sex.
I'm calling my Republican Senators tomorrow and asking if this letter violates any legislation pertaining to free speech and intimidation.
I've sent the letter to nearly everyone in my e-mail to make sure people know about this.
Ugghhh...Armitage apologized to Joe and Val? Sick. Just plain SICK.
Two of the Clinton's best friends are TV people...have had several TV shows on...
But, we also know that Bubba and Rodham are "actors"..and not real people anyway.
Bush has the pulpit. He could make a public statement about how wrong this is!
We have to make sure our troops get their absentee ballots in time for this November election. Never again are their votes going to be uncounted.
Thanks. I'm sending my 3rd e-mail.
"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.”
Does he mean the agent hung up on Clinton?
Also, what is it with Gorelick? Doesn't she realise that she could end up in jail for treason at any moment? She doesn't even have the sense to keep quiet.
As well as Presidential Pardons on leaving Office, I think there should be Presidential Indictments. Gorelick would get one.
Where's a Special Prosecutor when you need one?
[...There is a better chance of America becoming
a liberal dictatorship than an Islamic state...]
Not as long as we can carry guns.
Please thank your son for his service to our country.
Odd what people get upset about.
The Demagogue Party has no problem with Fitzgerald's taxpayer-funded malpractice in the Scooter Libby debacle, no problem with government officials leaking classified information to the media or the media printing said information, no problem with Murtha making extreme accusations against Marines before they are even charged, and no problem with misrepresentations of our handling of prisoners at Club Gitmo. Yet, this outrages them. I still contend that it would have been a much greater thing if flight 93 had crashed into the Capitol Building rather than a field in Pennsylvania. At least there would be a couple hundred less scoundrels in this city.
The left wing in this country, especially the politicians, are largely anti-American scum, traitors, seditionists, and terrorist sympathizers. They should all be put on trial with their buddies at Gitmo and/or put in internment camps until we defeat radical Islam. Every radical left-wing group in this country (moveon.org, ANSWER, et al) should be considered subversive enemies of the nation, outlawed, and thrown into the filthiest prisons that we can build.
Other than that, I have no strong feelings about these sub-human oxygen thieves.
Donks - We support the troops but not the mission, and BTW service members can not vote! That right goes to dead people or those of us that want to vote as many times as we want!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.