James Hirsen
Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2003

It looks like an ordinary suburban office. But to National Resource Defense Council, the three-story gray structure in Santa Monica represents a model of the future.

The building has bamboo floors, hemp carpets, solar cells and toilets that flush with rooftop rainwater.

It also has one major feature that gives it a whopping P.R. advantage. The thing’s called the Robert Redford Building, and it’s home for Natural Resources Defense Council’s new Southern California office.

Redford spoke at the ribbon-cutting ceremony, while James Taylor provided the eco-friendly background music. Of course, the Sundancer couldn’t resist a sting at the Bush administration. He said, “We are now suffering through an administration that has, in a very calculating way, set out to undermine and destroy 30 years of hard work.” In his best doomsday voice, Redford added, “There's never been a time in my life when I’ve felt so challenged as a country, so challenged on the environment, as we are now.”

The Left Coast Report asks, upon hearing Redford’s load, where’s a rainwater commode when you need one?

Shattered Journalism

Before Jayson Blair let the world know the level to which the New York Times had sunk, there was Stephen Glass.

Glass was the reporter who rocked another icon of the mainstream press, the New Republic. And just like Blair, he violated the first commandment of the news industry: “Thou shalt not make things up.”

Glass’s journalistic transgression of passing off fiction as fact is the basis of a new film called “Shattered Glass.” The movie demonstrates how the lust for fame can be a corrupting influence within journalism. Glass was able to get 27 articles published in one the world’s most respected news magazines using trumped-up sources, phony locations and nonexistent events.

Hayden Christensen, best known for his role as Anakin Skywalker, artfully plays Glass. Christensen is able to transform himself into an affable sociopath who seduces friends and co-workers with feigned insecurity. As the ethically challenged Glass commits a series of misdeeds, he’s careful to include for maximum diversion his tag line, “Are you mad at me?”

Steve Zahn, a veteran at portraying quirky characters, plays online reporter Adam Penenberg. Upon discovery of the extent of Glass’s fabrication, Penenberg appears to be stunned, disturbed and, ultimately, a bit gleeful at his scoop.

In a subplot, the film pays tasteful tribute to the late Michael Kelly, who was fired as editor of the New Republic early in the Glass saga. Kelly, a brilliant journalist and bold conservative, lost his life in 2003 while covering the war in Iraq. What does the infamous Glass himself think of the film? He assessed it in this way: “It was extremely painful and difficult to watch. There were large chunks of it, or at least significant chunks of it, that I looked at the ground, I didn't look at the screen. ... That being said, it's a good movie.”

As it turns out, the whole story is more than a cautionary tale for would be reporters. It’s a prime illustration of the importance of the alternative media, which have become the paramount check to the establishment media that far too often play tug of war with the truth. Journalism schools, including the one I teach at, will no doubt use this story as an object lesson.

But has Glass actually learned his lesson? Are there repercussions these days for professional ethics violations or personal moral failings? Not exactly. Glass has been given big-time opportunities to write, embellish and possibly fabricate again. He has published an autobiographical novel called “The Fabulist,” was recently hired by Rolling Stone to write an article on Canadian drug legislation, is writing a second novel and has applied to the New York Bar to become an attorney.

The Left Coast Report says much like Internet heroes of today who are exposing the mainstream’s print and broadcast chicanery, Glass’s fraud was unearthed by a Forbes online publication. Let’s man our modems and keep up the dig.

Richard Belzer’s Lobby of One

He plays a cop on “Law and Order: SVU.” Now it looks as if he’s decided to moonlight as a lobbyist in our nation’s capital.

He’s Richard Belzer, and he temporarily traded the glam of Hollywood for the pomp of D.C.

Belzer recently journeyed to Washington to hobnob with a group of U.S. senators. Apparently, his goal was to stop a bill that would protect the gun industry from the inevitable assault by the trial lawyers.

Belzer met with two Democrats, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Jack Reed of Rhode Island. He also pitched one Republican, John McCain.

The actor cleverly framed the issue as a one of cops’ rights. He told the Washington Post: “I'm distressed. I’m with two cops right now who were both shot while on duty from a gun purchased from a dealer. If this law passes, these officers won’t be able to sue that dealer, and I think that’s absurd. Police officers’ rights in the courtroom shouldn’t be denied.”

He was careful to avoid mentioning the people’s right to bear arms that’s specifically described in the Second Amendment. But he did let loose with a cinematic threat of sorts, in the event his lobbying proved unsuccessful. “Well, we just might have to do a show about it.”

The actor cautioned the senators that “if they don't vote the right way, they’re going to wind up being written about on my show.”

The Left Coast Report warns that if Belzer keeps it up I just might have to write about him in my next book.

Dead Fish Tell No Tales

This tale qualifies as a future blockbuster suspense flick. And Hollywood is paying close attention.

The story begins with a simple question: What would you do if you found a dead fish on your car?

Well, a journalist for the Los Angeles Times actually had to figure that one out. It seems that the reporter had been working on a story about the action movie star Steven Segal and an alleged organized crime extortion attempt, when she found the lifeless sea creature and the word “Stop” scrawled on her windshield.

It turns out that a former drug dealer told the police he had been paid $10,000 by a private detective to get the reporter to back off. The detective and Segal denied involvement.

But a warrant was issued to search the offices of the detective, Anthony Pellicano. And the search yielded some extraordinary items – plastic explosives, a couple of hand grenades and transcripts of wire taps – the discovery of which led to an investigation by a federal grand jury.

After word got out that the FBI had questioned Warren Beatty, Garry Shandling, a high-powered Hollywood attorney who represents stars such as Tom Cruise, Michael Jackson, John Travolta and Kevin Costner, and scores of others whose names remain a secret, Hollywood had a full-blown anxiety attack.

Now, after pleading guilty to illegal possession of the plastic explosives and grenades, Pellicano has started a 27-month jail term.

But the story gets even more interesting. It turns out that two of Pellicano’s most famous connections don’t live in Hollywood. Instead they live, now and then, in a place called Chappaqua, N.Y.

Yes, that’s right. The high-profile duo is none other than Bill and Hillary Clinton.

He first rendered services that benefited Bill and Hill during the 1992 presidential campaign. Pellicano’s task was apparently to try to cast doubt on the Gennifer Flowers tapes. Interestingly enough, in 1998, four days after the Monica Lewinsky story broke, Lewinsky’s former boyfriend showed up with the claim that the beret-headed one had stalked him. As the New York Post reported, Pellicano was the one who had dug up Monica’s ex.

Pellicano has told the Los Angeles Times, “I only use intimidation and fear when I absolutely have to.”

The Left Coast Report ponders whether Pellicano will be out in time for Hillary’s next fun run.

Alanis Morissette and Friends Try to Rock the Bush Energy Plan

Alanis Morissette, Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Moby, Barenaked Ladies, James Taylor and Jackson Browne are part of something called New Power Project.

The pack of pop stars is mobilizing to stop the Bush administration’s energy plan.

The activist rockers are using Web sites, e-mail lists and concerts to “rally hundreds of thousands of fans and other supporters to sign petitions and to fax their members of Congress and the Bush administration, expressing outrage over the plan's disregard for environmental protection and failure to support conservation and renewable energy programs.” In the group’s press release, Beastie Boys’ Mike “Mike D.” Diamond specifically went after the president’s proposal to slant drill in the Arctic. He said that President Bush's plan to drill for oil “in the biological heart of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge” would end up “increasing reliance on nuclear power, cutting research spending on alternative energy, and basically causing irreversible damage to the planet, heading us back to a time when humanoids dragged their knuckles on the ground.”

At recent Taylor and Petty concerts, fans were asked to sign petitions. And on their Web sites, Morissette and Matthews Band have been urging fans to join the fight, too.

Morissette intends to have petitions at her next concert. She’s also pushing for the firing of Deputy Interior Secretary J. Steven Griles. She posted a letter on her Web site that reads, “He has been leading the efforts to drill for oil and gas on these public lands, and he’s been working to weaken the laws that protect the air.”

The Left Coast Report suggests that New Power Project begin its conservation efforts by pulling the plug on its mikes.

PETA Puts Down Clay Aiken

The guys who put together PETA’s ad campaigns have been cruelly imaginative lately. They’ve used Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, the trash-talking puppet featured on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” and they’ve hit Clay Aiken way below the belt.

In an attempt to focus attention on controlling the pet population, PETA’s come up with an ad that has the cigar-smoking, smart-mouthed dog wearing a stylish post-surgery collar and a bandage over his recently amputated privates. The caption reads, “Get Neutered: It didn't hurt Clay Aiken.”

PETA is apparently peeved over statements that Aiken made in a recent article in Rolling Stone.

“I think cats are Satan,” Aiken said. “There's nothing worse to me than a house cat. When I was about sixteen, I had a kitten and ran over it. Seeing that cat die, I actually think that its spirit has haunted me. I wasn’t afraid of cats before. But now they scare me to death.”

PETA veep Dan Matthews told Rolling Stone, “If you look at the awful thing Clay said about cats, our ad in response is a pretty lighthearted way to even up the score.”

But Aiken’s publicist had a different opinion. He told the New York Post: “This is what PETA is using as their slogan? I don't get it. I’m taken aback by this a little bit. Is this a joke? I thought their whole idea is to reach out to millions of people - half of which are Clay Aiken fans.”

The Left Coast Report is amazed at how an organization that purportedly promotes kindness to animals can joke about cutting off somebody’s ability to hit the low notes.

Di-Fi Gets Dizzy Over Richard Gere

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California is known for her serious, down-to-business demeanor. So it was surprising to find out she’d recently been thrown off balance by an encounter with a Hollywood actor.

The New York Daily News reports that Feinstein was so engrossed with meeting Richard Gere, as she advanced toward the star she collided with a passing Senate page.

Gere, the chairman of the board of International Campaign for Tibet, was in Washington to lobby on behalf of Tibetans being mistreated by the government of China.

In addition to face-time with Di-Fi, Gere’s lobbying efforts included meetings with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas.

The Left Coast Report wonders whether Di-Fi had a similar experience with Gov. Schwarzenegger, or does her heart go aflutter for Hollywood libs only?

The Left Coast Report is put together by James L. Hirsen and the staff of NewsMax.

For archives of The Left Coast Report, click here.

Get your FREE copy of James Hirsen’s New York Times best-selling book, “Tales from the Left Coast.”

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Media Bias

103