Linda Rondstadt fired for supporting Michael Moore! What about freedom of Speech?

[DinoDoc]

You wouldn't know good acting or literature if it came up and bit you in the arse, Aggie.

[The Mad Monk]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Doonsberry's being cut?

I see somebody has been skipping their daily dose of Drudge, again...

Continental: Complaints Led to Drop-'Doonesbury' Poll

By Dave Astor

Published: July 21, 2004 11:50 AM EST, updated at 1:20 PM

NEW YORK A poll that resulted in a vote to drop "Doonesbury" was defended by the head of a Sunday-comics consortium.

"It was not a political statement of any kind," Continental Features President Van Wilkerson told E&P. "I personally don't have an opinion about 'Doonesbury' one way or another."

Wilkerson said he conducted the survey because Garry Trudeau's comic "created more controversy than other strips." In the poll e-mail he sent Continental's newspaper clients this spring, Wilkerson wrote: "(I)t is my feeling that a change in one of the features is required. I have fielded numerous complaints about 'Doonesbury' in the past and feel it is time to drop this feature and add another in its place. ... If the majority of the group favors a replacement, you will be expected to accept that change."

Of the 38 papers that run the Continental-produced Sunday comics section, 21 wanted to drop "Doonesbury," 15 wanted to keep it, and two had no opinion or preference. "I wouldn't call the vote [to drop 'Doonesbury'] overwhelming, but it was a majority opinion," Wilkerson said.

One of the 15 papers, The Anniston (Ala.) Star (Click for QuikCap), expressed public dismay with the vote yesterday -- saying the decision amounted to censorship. In an E&P interview after that article appeared, Star Executive Editor Troy Turner said: "Sure, 'Doonesbury' causes editors headaches from time to time, but there is a proven readership for it. Newspapers need to think of readers first, or they will continue to struggle."

Turner added that he doesn't recall Continental doing polls about any of the other 22 comics in its package; "Doonesbury" was singled out. Wilkerson acknowledged that the survey was out of the norm.

The Continental head said he doesn't know exactly when "Doonesbury" will leave the package; he's currently polling clients to see if they want to replace it with "Agnes," "Get Fuzzy," "Pickles," "Zits," or another comic.

If Continental does pull "Doonesbury" from the package, "we will find a way to run it in the Sunday paper," said Star Editorial Page Editor Bob Davis. He noted that the Star already publishes the daily "Doonesbury" in an unusual locale: the back page of the "A" section.

As previously reported, Star Publisher H. Brandt Ayers e-mailed Wilkerson to say he and his paper's editors "strongly object to an obviously political effort to silence a minority point of view. For years, my New Deal father bore the opposition views of Orphan Annie and Daddy Warbucks, and I believe he would have fought an effort to silence them a by a simple majority vote. This is wrong, offensive to First Amendment freedoms."

"Doonesbury" -- which appears in more than 1,400 papers via Universal Press Syndicate -- has made a lot of news this year with strong criticism of President Bush and the Iraq war. In one sequence, Trudeau offered $10,000 to anyone who could prove Bush served in the Alabama National Guard. And, in an ongoing story line, the B.D. character lost a leg in Iraq and is dealing with the aftermath of that devastating injury.

The 38 papers running the package from Salisbury, N.C.-based Continental are predominately located in the Southeast.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000581723

I happen to like Doonesbury, BTW.

[Agathon]

You wouldn't know good acting or literature if it came up and bit you in the arse, Aggie.

Says the person who referred to Mel Gibson as an "actor".

[The Mad Monk]

To be a good actor, one must be a good liar.

[The Mad Monk]

Of course, that also follows for politicians -- which is why actors can make such dangerous politicians.

[Dis]

It's a good thing Arnold Swarchenegger isn't an actor then .

[The Mad Monk]

Actually, Arnold is a dangerous politician, in the way I'm using the term -- that is, he is very much a threat to anyone running for the same office.

[Lefty Scaevola]

Originally posted by Dissident
more boos for Linda

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/...mkkkkkkkkkklpk|Any|Y

She is a real freaking slow learner, isn't she.

[Gibsie]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
Kelsey Grammer and Mel Gibson.

Kelsey Grammer, the big crybaby who got WWE to stop filming a season of a wrestling reality TV show in his neighbourhood?

[DinoDoc]

Would you want the WWE filming in your neighbourhood?

[Gibsie]

I'm not a member of the "Not in my backyard" brigade, whether it's asylum seekers or pretend wrestlers.

[Kidlicious]

Originally posted by Gibsie
Kelsey Grammer, the big crybaby who got WWE to stop filming a season of a wrestling reality TV show in his neighbourhood?

No wonder Frazier is such an easy 'character' for him.

I like that show though

[MosesPresley]

http://www.tmsfeatures.com/tmsfeatures/subcategory.jsp?custid=67&catid=1109

BILL PRESS

For release 7/22/04

NO FREE SPEECH FOR LINDA RONSTADT OR WHOOPI GOLDBERG

By Bill Press

Tribune Media Services

"I feel so bad, I got a worried mind. I'm so lonesome all the time. Since I left my baby behind, on Blue Bayou."

It wasn't Blue Bayou that greeted Linda Ronstadt in Las Vegas, it was the Black Swamp of Intolerance. The crowd of 4,500 loved her. They sang along and showered her with applause. Until . she dedicated her encore song, "Desperado," to filmmaker Michael Moore, whom she called "a great patriot," and suggested that people go see his new, Bush-bashing documentary, "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Suddenly, things got ugly. She was drowned out by boos and jeers. About a thousand people walked out. Some patrons threw their cocktails in the air, others ripped down concert posters. And, without even allowing her to return to her dressing room, Aladdin boss Bill Timmons ordered security guards to escort Ronstadt out of the hotel - never, he vowed, to return.

I can't help but wonder: What would have happened had Ronstadt recommended that people go see the new Disney film "America's Heart and Soul," touted as the conservative alternative to "Fahrenheit 9/11"? Would she have been booed off the stage? Escorted from the premises? Banned from Vegas? Of course not.

Ronstadt's not the only performer on the left to be silenced. Her banishment came just one week after Whoopi Goldberg was fired as spokesman for Slim-Fast diet products because she dared to poke fun at President Bush during a Kerry fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall.

Last year, it was Tim Robbins, dropped from the speaking lineup at the Baseball Hall of Fame because he criticized the Bush administration. And, of course, the Dixie Chicks: banned from many country music stations after lead singer Natalie Maines told a London audience they were embarrassed to hail from the same state as George W. Bush.

Strangely enough, the same consequences don't apply to personalities on the right. Last week, standup comic Dennis Miller, host of his own nightly CNBC show, warmed up the audience at a Bush rally in Michigan. As part of his comic routine, Miller ridiculed John Kerry and John Edwards for their public displays of affection.

"Have you noticed?" he asked the crowd. "These two cannot keep their hands off each other. I think I have a new idea for a new campaign slogan. How about a bumper sticker: Hey, Get a Hotel Room!"

And what reprimand did Miller receive for his anti-gay slur and implication, if not accusation, that Kerry and Edwards were homosexual lovers? Was he booed, banned or fired? No way. President Bush praised Miller for his performance and thanked him "for joining us."

Now, I admit, whether or not entertainers should be lacing their acts with political statements is a legitimate question. Personally, unless it's a political event - where you expect partisan comments - I'd rather enjoy the music without being lectured by anybody on what books to read, what movies to see, or how to vote.

But personal tastes aside, the fact remains: Celebrities are Americans, too. Like all the rest of us, they have a right to say that Kerry stinks, or Bush stinks. And as fellow Americans, we should be willing to hear somebody utter a political statement we don't agree with without becoming rude or violent. More importantly, if entertainers are going to be punished for expressing their political opinions, the same sanctions should apply across the board.

That's not the way it is today. in today's America, it's wrong for a celebrities to voice political opinions. Unless they're Bo Derek, Tom Selleck, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Wayne Newton, Mel Gibson, Ben Stein, Robert Duvall, Ricky Schroeder, Delta Burke, Wynonna Judd, Naomi Judd, Reba McEntire . or Dennis Miller.

Until that changes, entertainers on the left will have to follow the example of Natalie Maines. After apologizing for her comments about President Bush, she told her fans she'd learned her lesson: "I realize now that I'm just supposed to sing and look cute so our fans won't have anything to upset them while they're cheating on their wives or getting into drunken bar fights or driving around in their pickup trucks shooting highway signs or small animals."

- - -

Bill Press is a political commentator for MSNBC and author of the new book "Bush Must Go." His new Web site is: www.billpress.com. His e-mail address is: bill@billpress.com.

© 2004 Tribune Media Services, Inc.

[Kidlicious]

Republicans have the 'if you're not conservative, you're unpatriotic' thing, and their going to use it. It works for them.

[Ming]

Originally posted by MosesPresley

Strangely enough, the same consequences don't apply to personalities on the right. Last week, standup comic Dennis Miller, host of his own nightly CNBC show, warmed up the audience at a Bush rally in Michigan. As part of his comic routine, Miller ridiculed John Kerry and John Edwards for their public displays of affection.

"Have you noticed?" he asked the crowd. "These two cannot keep their hands off each other. I think I have a new idea for a new campaign slogan. How about a bumper sticker: Hey, Get a Hotel Room!"

And what reprimand did Miller receive for his anti-gay slur and implication, if not accusation, that Kerry and Edwards were homosexual lovers? Was he booed, banned or fired? No way. President Bush praised Miller for his performance and thanked him "for joining us."

Yes... let's compare comedians who have been doing political satire for years to lounge lizards I will bet you that there are more comedians telling anti bush jokes and not getting booed off stage than those telling Kerry jokes. But, what would you expect form somebody just try to shill his new Anti Bush book...

He really brings up nothing new... makes assumptions that support his bias with no basis of fact to back them up... and he is out to sell more copies of his book...

Not what I would call a very credible piece