|
|
|||
|
|||
|
|
Michael Moore's Cuba Stunt James Hirsen
THE LEFT COAST
REPORT
Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories): 1. Michael Moore's Cuba Stunt Just in case anyone thought Michael Moore had taken an early retirement from his unethical approach to movie making, a report from the New York Post shows the filmmaker is seeking to undermine one of the nation's institutions once again.
Moore's production company has engaged in a scheme designed to bolster the ridiculous argument that medical care in Fidel Castro's totalitarian dictatorship is superior to health care in the United States. As part of Moore's latest film "Sicko," which deals with the subject of American health care, the deceptive director transported ground zero workers with respiratory ailments to Cuba to prove that the care provided in the U.S. is inferior to the care offered at Fidel's centrally planned "paradise."
Story Continues Below
In typical Moore fashion, the factually challenged filmmaker used ailing 9/11 workers as pawns to apparently satisfy his personal ambition. An ill worker who was allegedly promised to be taken to Cuba was left behind by Moore. Michael McCormack, a disabled medic, was contacted via phone. "What he [Moore] wanted to do is shove it up George W.'s rear end that 9/11 heroes had to go to a communist country to get adequate health care," McCormack told the Post. Moore went to Cuba minus McCormack. "It's the ultimate betrayal," McCormack said. "You're promised that you're going to be taken care of, and then you find out you're not. He's trying to profiteer off of our suffering."
In a tape of a telephone conversation between McCormack and a Moore producer, a female voice indicated, "Even for the people that we did bring down to Cuba, we said we can promise that you will be evaluated, that you will get looked at. We can't promise that you will get fixed." Moore's popularity in communist Cuba has been solid ever since a pirated version of his movie, "Fahrenheit 9/11," was shown on state-owned TV. 2. Future of Don Imus' Charity Ranch in Question Lost in the story of Don Imus' removal from the airwaves is the potential loss of assistance to children with cancer and other illnesses. At a 4,000-acre ranch just outside of Santa Fe, N.M., children between the ages of 10 and 17 who have cancer or other serious diseases get to spend seven days at the ranch at no cost to their families. The kids learn to ride and care for horses and help feed cattle, sheep, buffalo, chickens, goats, and donkeys. As would be expected, they love every minute of it. The operation is expensive. The ranch spent $2.5 million (about $28,000 per child) during its last fiscal year. Because Imus was the chief fundraiser, the charity may soon be forced to close its doors. Many of the kids who were treated to the ranch were African-Americans, a fact that Revs. Sharpton and Jackson failed to take into consideration in the Imus matter. 3. Hollywood Nation Spotlight This week's "News is Big Entertainment and Entertainment is Big News" picks are:
• Presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton recently went on a WOKQ-FM radio talk show to answer voters' questions. The New York senator was asked what the United States can do about the crisis created by contestant Sanjaya Malakar's staying on "American Idol" despite an apparent lack of talent. "That's the best question I've been asked in a long time," Clinton said. She then informed listeners that "people can vote for whomever they want. That's true in my election, and its true on 'American Idol.'" • MSNBC anchor Tucker Carlson is following up his "Dancing With the Stars" guest spot with a host position on a new reality game show, "Do You Trust Me?" in which strangers are cajoled into placing their trust in one another. The show is slated to air on CBS. • Kirk Douglas has some blog advice for the U.S. government: Apologize for slavery. "The apology should be accompanied by a Marshall Plan in Africa. Let's try to help eliminate the poverty, starvation, genocide, AIDS that plagues the country where we captured our slaves. Let the world see that we really care about others and have the courage to admit our mistakes," the 90-year-old actor wrote on MySpace. • Larry Birkhead's paternity battle success is paying off in an additional way. NBC has given the former photographer a high six-figure deal for the exclusive rights to his story. With his former attorney, Debora Opri, suing him for $620,000 in legal fees, he could use the money. • Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie have apparently had a unique TV evacuation experience. "The Simple Life" is set to air an episode that will contain a sequence in which Hilton and Richie provide relief of the lower intestinal kind to campers at a health camp. The camp is run by fitness guru Susan Powter. Hilton indicated she would rather milk cows. 4. Orwellian Fairness One of the most Orwellian named pieces of regulation in human history is set to make a comeback, if left-leaning bloggers and Democrat legislators get their way. It's the "Fairness Doctrine" and in the past was part of the regulatory function of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Under its regulatory thumb, broadcasters were required to provide equal reply time to anyone who claimed their opinions had been derogated. The regulation was properly eliminated in the 1980s. Similar to the decency rules of the FCC, the Fairness Doctrine was justified at the time because of a scarcity of broadcast frequencies and because radio and television stations as public trustees are not necessarily entitled to First Amendment protections. The demise of Don Imus' radio and television shows has provided impetus to proponents of a renewed version of the fairness doctrine. In reality, though, the "new and improved" Fairness Doctrine, if passed, will be a means of restoring a liberal media monopoly. Democrat Rep. Maurice Hinchey has proposed the Media Ownership Reform Act, which melds the old Fairness doctrine with other draconian speech squelching legislation. And Democrat Rep. Dennis Kucinich has been talking about having hearings on the Hill to determine whether the Fairness Doctrine should be reinstated. 5. Soros-Supported Media Matters Group Jumps on the 'Fairness' Bandwagon On another front, George Soros's pet media watchdog, Media Matters, has been pushing to bring back the fairness doctrine since 2004. Ultra-liberal tilting Media Matters gets its money from a Soros think tank, the Center for American Progress. The face, and blatantly biased blogger of Media Matters, is David Brock. The site recently sent out a list of statements that Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Bill O'Reilly and Michael Savage have made over the years so as to capitalize on the raging controversy and to implicitly place the conservative talk show hosts in the same pariah category as Imus. But despite the media frenzy and fabricated feedback loop, it is important for us to focus on the central issue with regard to the future of free expression; that is, the Fairness Doctrine, if implemented, will do precisely the opposite of what supporters claim it will. Instead of more ideas and opinions on the airwaves, the public will assuredly end up with far fewer. Because of the potential threat under which broadcasters will be operating (i.e., that they will be mandated to provide equal response time for anyone considered to be aggrieved in any way), they will be far less likely to allow opinions to be aired at all. Additionally, broadcasters mandated by law to air opinions that their audiences do not want to hear will be compelled to act contrary to the free market. The tragic consequence will be to repress the marketplace of ideas and seriously suppress freedom. If you think the FCC is politicized now, just imagine what things will be like if a government body is given the power to evaluate opinion.
From an author who is not prone to exaggeration, I have one other critical point to make: If the Fairness Doctrine passes in any form, liberals will be hurt very little; conservative media, on the other hand, will be decimated. Conservative talk radio will be wholly undermined and may quite possibly cease to exist. It's the one media venue where conservatives have been dominant — not print, network or cable television, film, or music — AM radio, that's it. But liberals, as they have proven, fight on every front. With that mindset, no venue of conservative dominance would ever be allowed to stand. Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Michael Medved, and countless other conservative talk-show hosts gained favor with the public thanks to the intellectual, informative and entertaining nature of their programming and the unfettered application of the free market. I'd call that fairness. Editor's Notes:
The Left Coast Report is put together by James L. Hirsen and the staff of NewsMax — The Left Coast Report Archives Get your FREE copy of James Hirsen's new book 'Hollywood Nation' — Click Here Now.
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Print Page 
Forward Page 
|
| All Rights Reserved © 2008 NewsMax.Com |