Free Republic

California's Democratic politicians often decry special tax loopholes and other corporate subsidies, but when it comes to one business sector - the movie industry - they make a huge exception. Not only is the Southern California-based movie industry heavily unionized, but its executives are almost all political liberals who donate lavishly to Democratic campaigns. That, in a nutshell, explains why the Democratic speaker of the Assembly, Fabian Núñez, quietly amended a bill this week to grant movie producers tens of millions of dollars in subsidies from a state treasury that already is drowning in red ink, with multibillion-dollar annual deficits....

HOLLYWOOD (AFP) - Hollywood is fretting that outspoken stars could hijack Sunday's Oscars (news - web sites), the scene of frequent political outbursts, to score points ahead of this year's US presidential polls. And amid a tough crackdown by US federal authorities on the broadcast of "indecent" material, Oscar bosses worry that an unexpected political tirade could be censored, tarnishing the image of cinema's top awards. The Academy Awards (news - web sites), attended by all of Hollywood's good and great and watched by up to one billion television viewers across the globe, presents a tempting soap-box for politically active...

Reagan Took On Hollywood ElitesWes VernonTuesday, Feb. 10, 2004Read the first article in this series, Reagan Defeated the Evil Empire With FaithRead the second article in this series, Belief Brought Reagan and Gorbachev Together WASHINGTON -- When President Ronald Reagan set about bringing down the Soviet Union, he was confronting an old adversary: Communism. His faith had guided him throughout his life, starting with his days as a young boy in Dixon, where his religious mother Nelle guided him. Later, when he went to Hollywood, he got to know the home-grown communists there and their camp-followers among the show business...

More and more celebrities using fame to back causes 12/26/2002 Associated Press NEW YORK - From the moment Sean Penn arrived in Baghdad, eager to advance the cause of peace, he was doomed - a dead man talking. He was a celebrity, like so many other celebrities who have waded into the treacherous waters of politics or international relations. So he walked gingerly - he was there, he said, "to learn and not to teach." He avoided reporters. And he was careful not to say or do anything that would cause a meltdown at home. So the Iraqis did...