Senators threaten to censor political speech

[Whitehall]

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada and Democratic Minority Leader has written (with other Democratic

senators) a letter to Disney and ABC threatening to pull their broadcasting licenses if ABC does not CANCEL their

upcoming docudrama "The Path to 9/11."

The letter follows:

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.

....

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

[koolking1]

Not that I would watch this "docu-drama", but how can anyone consider it to be

"political speech"? I thought it was just some kind of movie thing with a sprinkling of Clinton bashing thrown in

to make Bush look better. Am i wrong?

[Whitehall]

Saw episode #1 last night. It

ended before Bush came to office.

I really did not see what the Democrats were so worked up about - and I

even saw the censored parts on the web.

If anything, it showed that the bureaucracy works like a bureaucracy

and that there are real balancing interests in foreign policy. For example, Madeleine Albright's arguments were

valid - at the time - and should have been given weight although these points lead to wrong decisions - in

retrospect. I remember the ridicule by some Republicans of the cruise missile attack on the aspirin factory with

embarassment.

It did sometimes feel like a "Dirty Harry" cop show - you know, the "make my day" attitude

where gung-ho cops have to be contrained from blowing away the bad guy. Still, the decision to move from a law

enforcement model to warfare model is still debated today but the docudrama does support the latter.

I

didn't go into the program with an opinion that the Clinton Administration was to blame, only that they could have

done better. I feel that way about the Bush Administration's pre-9/11 conduct too (that's on tonight.)



"We was sucker-punched" will probably be the verdict of history. The real question for the citizenry is

what course do we follow from here on out? Frankly, episode 1 made it appear that terrorism is a SMALLER problem

that I had imagined - a smaller, weaker group with fewer resources.

The question for today is, how has this

changed? We've reduced OBL and A-Q substantially but Iran has increased its efforts. Has history moved on to

bigger and more substantial threats?

The take-home point from this exercise for me is that the Democrats will

resort to government intimidation of censorship to gain partisan advantage. That's why I pasted their letter

here.

I hope the voters chastize them in the November elections.

[koolking1]

yes, it does seem to be happening, although not the way you'd like it to Whitehall.

"On the

fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, three hours before the Kean-Hamilton luncheon address at the National

Press Club, the former Air Force officer and director of the 'Star Wars' program who just won Florida's 15th

District Democratic primary with 54 percent of the vote on an explicit platform to expose the fraud of the Kean

Commission Report, and top 9/11 researchers, authors and activists will present hard proof that the official

narrative of the Kean-Hamilton Commission and Bush- Cheney Administration is a fraud of world historic proportions.

"

The tide has turned.

[Mtnjim]

The San Diego Chargers have their

opening game tonight on ESPN and the local ABC station co-broadcasts the game. They are going to move the showing of

part two of the "Path..." to Saturday night here.

And we have created loads of new terroists by our own recent

stupid actions.

[belgareth]

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2006/09/12/mcintyre.pentagon.conspiracy.theory.cnn ("http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2006/09/12/mcintyre.pentagon.conspiracy.theory.cnn"

)

[Whitehall]

Koolking,

Great news

about this guy winning the Democratic primary! Like Ned Lamont in Connecticut, that shows just how

self-marginalized the Democratic voter base has become.

It will result in an even stronger showing by

Republicans in the upcoming elections. This is like George McGovern winning the Democratic presidential nomination

- a recipe for electorial defeat by the Left.

Of course, Joe Lieberman, the presumptive winner of the

Connecticut senatorial seat has yet to announce whether or not he'll remain a Democrat.

Back to the

movie.....

I thought the second part was anticlimatic and not quite as tense as the first part. Perhaps

because the actual attack is so much better understood. Still, I learned more than a few things. My kids watched

too and had some eye-openers.

I thought Atta should have been played by a less pretty actor. The photos of

the real guy convey a much more uptight personality. One could have played up his sexual phobias too.

Clarke

came off overall as a ineffectual screamer. We all wish he could have been more persuasive in real life although I

understand the inertia he and the FBI guy (O'Neil) faced.

I would have loved to hear "Let's roll" on United

93 if just to get our blood up.

[koolking1]

in

part:

"American Airlines is prepared to pull its advertising from ABC in order to protest its portrayal in

the network's recently aired movie The Path to 9/11, according to a source. The carrier also said it is considering

legal action against the network."