Rev. Erudite Redneck, B.S., B.S., M.A., M.Div.

That's going to be a very short list. ABC has planned all along to show it without commercials.
 

I'm spending the night sewing so I don't succumb to any of the 9/11 television. Who needs it? Not I said the little fly.
 

Well I watched it. And despite the undeniable judgmental faux pas of the previous administration, the bad guys were the terrorists... Not Clinton, and not his administration. People here on the Left side of the fence have gotten their knickers in a bunch for nothing.

You people told all us Righties to calm down, Michael Moore's entitled to his first amendment right of free speech. Well, at least tonights teledrama had more in common with the truth than Michael Moore's 'fahrenheit 9/11'

Besides which... No commercials, and therefore no '"dramatizing" 9/11 for profit...' As well, your friends letter was pointless; except as a demonstration of his right of free speech. Tonights telecast was a demonstration of ABC's right of free speech. Since when did we become a nation that picks and chooses who get's to exercize that right? It's been Clinton and his righteous band of Clintonistas who have attempted all week to squash ABC's rights.
 

ABC broadcasts everything for profit. My indignation stands.

As "you people" are fond of asserting, rights are one thing, responsibilities are another. ABC has rights. Did it live up to its responsibilities?
 

Indeed there were no advertisements. A smart move on everyone's part. Was that really the plan all along? I did note that the program ended 25 minutes before it should and that our local station at least, filled that time with contract adds, public service spots, and internal propmos. That slot of time hardly seems enough time for missing adds, so I assume that it was the amount of time cut from the production because of protest. That would be a 20% cut in night on'e lenth. That is a lot of stuff. Even so a lot of other stuff was left out of the supposed "path" to 9/11, such as Bin Laden's intial goals, the reasons for his behavior, and the influence of the Carter-Regean-Bush One behavior on his efforts.
Little details that told a lot were gone. Like the fact that we caught the 1993 WTC bombers was because they returned to the Ryder Truck Rental Office to claim the deposit they had put down on the truck that they blew up(kind of hard to take people like that seriously). How about showing the venom of the Republicans in Congress when Clinton did send missles after Bin Laden, that event was a 3 second flicker in the movie.
The intended theme of the movie seemed to be that the Clinton administration had no "balls". It came across however that "America was incompetent and had no balls".
Talk about aid and confort to the enemy.
I wonder, is thinking with our "balls" better than using our brains? Apparently "ball thinking" hasn't done much for us over the last six years.

The history of all this is convoluted and complex. This movie was simplistic and badly done in the 'movie of the week' genere. For 40 million dollars they should have been able to do better. The characters are lop-sided and stereotyped, the special effects non-existant, (indeed when they showed "cruise missles hitting", one was a cluster bomb set being dropped and the other was a laser smart bomb blowing up a target).
Once you subtract the posturing and meaningful looks by the actors you could have shorted the entire production to about an hour. If I were a share holder in the mother corporation I would want an accounting of this expenditure. ABC/Mouse has stumbled here.
By the way, O'Neil's story deserves better.

ELA asks:"Since when did we become a nation that picks and chooses who get's to exercize that right?"
As I have said before ELA, since the right wing extremist squashed the min-series about Reagan on CBS for idelogical reasons.
 

Right on E.R. It is a sad truth, that in all liklihood the freedoms of the constitution will be pried from us by domestic rather than foreign enemies. I guess you could say the foreign enemies are tricking the domestics into it. Damn, is are government getting played like a fiddle.
Henry
 

FF said:"ABC has planned all along to show it without commercials."

Nope, not so.
The "old" press releases about it said with "limited" commercial interuptions. Infact they had none what so ever. I guess they had a change of plans. The missing 'limited commercials' may actually explain the missing 25 minutes, because ABC left the two most egregious scenes in the movie intact. So not too much editing must have been done.
 

drlobojo said: "Little details that told a lot were gone. Like the fact that we caught the 1993 WTC bombers was because they returned to the Ryder Truck Rental Office to claim the deposit they had put down on the truck that they blew up(kind of hard to take people like that seriously)."

It was there, I saw it. I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but I did see that part.
 

Ok END, you dumb bastard. You probably paid to see Michael Moore spew his lies. What's the difference?
And ER, always on his high horse, better than everyone else. If I could buy him for what he's worth and sell him for what he thinks he's worth I could donate to the Gates fund.
 

Democrats fell for it again. ABC showed them a copy they wouldn't like so they'd throw a fit and look stupid when the real version was aired. And as usual they squealed like a pig hung under a gate. LOL(1000)
 

What the heck. Who let the fifth-graders in?

Watch your language.
 

BTW, the only person I'm better than is myself, yesterday. At least that's the goal. You should try it.
 

And "END" what?
 

Hey, Anon, have someone read this to you, 'K? Then learn some manners Then grow up.

We po' ignurnt Dems is jess follerin' y'allses' example!


About a month before it was scheduled to air, portions of a draft script of the documentary-drama "The Reagans" were leaked and published by the New York Times and the Drudge Report. As a result of these stories, the miniseries began to be widely criticized by conservatives as an unbalanced and inaccurate depiction of Reagan. CBS reportedly had ordered a love story about Ronald and Nancy Reagan with politics as a backdrop, but instead received what they later claimed was an overtly political film. Supporters of the film claimed that these criticisms were simply partisan bias, and were an attempt to censor a film because it did not always portray the former president in positive light.

Conservatives began criticizing it before it was broadcast and claimed that it put words in Reagan's mouth and condemned it as "leftist" historical revisionism. Some of the criticism was based upon early drafts of the script and featured scenes that were either never shot or dropped from the final version. Eventually, after several weeks of outspoken criticism by conservatives, on November 4, 2003, CBS withdrew the broadcast claiming that it did "not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans" ([1]). The network chose instead to broadcast the miniseries on the premium cable channel Showtime, which along with CBS is owned by Viacom.

CBS's denial that it was yielding to the furor did not persuade its critics. The producers of the movie noted that, before the outcry from Reagan loyalists, CBS had approved both the script for the miniseries and had seen dailies as they were shot, and the film had been approved by two sets of lawyers. Jeff Chester, head of the Center for Digital Democracy, a communications lobbying group, said that CBS had chosen not to offend Republicans at a time when the federal government was considering rules restricting ownership of local television stations. CBS executives "made a business decision," he said. "In doing so, they clearly caved in to the political pressure." Senator Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader, commented that the decision "smells of intimidation to me.".
 

I heard the President of the United States say today that on 9/11 he wanted to go directly back to Washington but the Secret Service wouldn't let him, and that the Vice=President told him noto as well. OK, do you think Calvin Coolidge, or FDR, or Nixon, or Ike, or Lincoln, or even Clinton would let the Secret Service or their friggin V.P. keep them from doing what they wanted to do? You mean the leader of the free world, the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief of the American Military couldn't order his own plane to go where he wanted it to go.
This from his own mouth means he was either a wimp then or is a lier now. Juding from the 5 minute video of him at that school that morning, I'll go with the former.
Watch the whole five minutes and weep....
http://www.thememoryhole.org/911/bush-911.htm
Then watch the ABC movie tonight and see how this is shown.
 

http://mediamatters.org/items/200609060007
 

For the record Scholastic Inc. abandons the "Mouse".

Scholastic's News Release:

SCHOLASTIC REPLACES “THE PATH TO 9/11” CLASSROOM GUIDE WITH NEW DISCUSSION MATERIALS FOCUSING ON CRITICAL THINKING AND MEDIA LITERACY SKILLS





New York, NY (September 7, 2006) -- Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, today announced that it is removing from its website the materials originally created for classroom use in conjunction with the ABC Television Network docudrama, “The Path to 9/ll,” scheduled to air on the ABC Television Network on September 10 and 11, 2006. A new classroom discussion guide for high school students is being created and will focus more specifically on media literacy, critical thinking, and historical background.

“After a thorough review of the original guide that we offered online to about 25,000 high school teachers, we determined that the materials did not meet our high standards for dealing with controversial issues,” said Dick Robinson, Chairman, President and CEO of Scholastic. “At the same time, we believe that developing critical thinking and media literacy skills is crucial for students in today’s society in order to participate fully in our democracy and that a program such as ‘The Path to 9/11’ provides a very ‘teachable moment’ for developing these skills at the high school level. We encourage teachers not to shy away from the controversy surrounding the program, but rather to engage their students in meaningful, in-depth discussion.”

The new guide clearly states that Scholastic had no involvement with developing the ABC docudrama, and that the company is not promoting the program, but that the program can provide a springboard to discussion about the issues leading up to 9/11, terrorism and the Middle East. The guide will focus on three issues:

1. Media Literacy - what is a docudrama; how does it differ from a documentary; what are the differences between factual reporting and a dramatization?

2. Background to 9/11 - what are some of the causes of unrest in the Middle East and other parts of the world that give rise to attacks on the U.S. and other countries?

3. Geography and Culture -- there is a long history of conflict in the Middle East. How well do students understand each of the countries involved and what influences their behavior?
Scholastic has been providing free educational materials for use in the classroom in conjunction with television programs and films since the 1950’s. Classroom discussion guides have also been created in the past to support discussion of major events such as the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters, the shootings at Columbine and many others.

“As we have done with many discussion guides in the past related to major events, we encourage teachers to engage their students in these important discussions about news, media and public opinion. Understanding and evaluating media messages can be challenging for adults and young people alike and developing media literacy skills is critical for students in order for them to be well-informed participants in our democratic society,” added Robinson.

The Scholastic mission is clearly stated in its credo and editorial platform which includes the statement: “Good citizens may honestly differ on important public questions. We believe that all sides of the issues of our times should be fairly discussed – with deep respect for facts and logical thinking – in classroom magazines, books and other educational materials used in schools and homes.”

The new guide will be available at www.scholastic.com/medialiteracy.
 

for the record, Oliver Stone is high on my shitlist as well. this is crap. the whole goddam thing. other peoples' misery as one goddam source of fodder for peoples' celluloid wankfests. i've had it.
 

confidential to whomever: "think you're better than anyone else" is what people who desperately want to flame but can't actually think of anything to use against you end up with. It's a compliment, really.

heh. the Yosemite Sam icon is feeling apt right now:

"oooooh, i HATES that varmint!"

damn you for not providing us with any serious flaws to attack! damn you! you, you, you PERFECT PERSON! (spit)

one responds:

"but hey, you're the one with the mind-reading abilities, so, congrats!"