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		<ul class="module-list">
							<li class="module-list-item"><a  title=""href="http://www.causecast.org/">Causecast</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a  title=""href="http://www.cocoecomag.com/">Coco Eco Magazine</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a  title=""href="http://www.declareyourself.com/">Declare Yourself</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a  title=""href="http://www.globalphilanthropygroup.com/">Global Philanthropy Group</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a  title=""href="http://www.meaningfulmedia.org/">Meaningful Media</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a  title=""href="http://notonourwatchproject.org/">Not on Our Watch</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a  title=""href="http://www.hhill.org/#SlideFrame_1">The Hollywood Hill</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a  title=""href="http://www.un.org/sg/mop/index.shtml">United Nations Messengers of Peace</a></li>
			
		</ul>
	</div>
</div>

<div class="module-typelist module">
	<h2 class="module-header">Watchdogs</h2>
	<div class="module-content">
		<ul class="module-list">
							<li class="module-list-item"><a title="For Fairness, Accuracy and Balance in News Reporting." href="http://www.aim.org/">Accuracy In Media</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a title="Publishers of PR Watch" href="http://www.prwatch.org/">Center for Media and Democracy</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a title="" href="http://www.mediainstitute.org/">Media Institute</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a title="" href="http://mediamatters.org/">Media Matters</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a title="Because Our Children Are Watching" href="http://www.parentstv.org/">Parents Television Council</a></li>
			
		</ul>
	</div>
</div>

<div class="module-typelist module">
	<h2 class="module-header">Variety's Blogs</h2>
	<div class="module-content">
		<ul class="module-list">
							<li class="module-list-item"><a title="Brian Lowry, TV blogger" href="http://weblogs.variety.com/bltv">BLTv</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a title="" href="http://www.boffo.com/">Boffo </a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a title="On the Air surveys the news, oddities, major players and rising stars of the small-screen scene." href="http://weblogs.variety.com/on_the_air/">On The Air</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a title="" href="http://weblogs.variety.com/technotainment/">Technotainment</a></li>
							<li class="module-list-item"><a title="The intersection of entertainment and politics." href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/">Wilshire & Washington</a></li>
			
		</ul>
	</div>
</div>

      </div>
      <!-- end leftcolumn -->
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<p class="content-nav">
			<a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/06/index.html">&laquo; June 2010</a> |
	
	<a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/">Main</a>
			| <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/08/index.html">August 2010 &raquo;</a>
	
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/sandra-bullock-disavows-gulf-cleanup-campaign-.html">
        Sandra Bullock Disavows Gulf Cleanup Campaign 
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Published: Fri, July 30, 2010,  6:07 PM<br>




      
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        <p>Sandra Bullock issued a statement asking that her participation in the <a href="http://www.restorethegulf.com/about/">Restore the Gulf</a>&#0160;campaign be removed after <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/29/restore-the-gulf-campaign_n_664314.html">reports</a> that a number of oil companies, including BP, helped finance one of its partner orgs.</p>
<p>The organization, America&#39;s Wetland Foundation, <a href="https://www.americaswetland.com/sponsor.cfm?pageid=30&amp;cid=40">gets funding</a>&#0160;from BP, Chevron and Shell, among other groups. </p>
<p>Per <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/2010/07/29/bullock-disowns-bp/">ThinkProgress</a>, Bullock&#39;s reps said, &quot;Ms. Bullock was originally contacted through her attorney to be a part of the PSA in order to promote awareness of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. At no time was she made aware that any organization, oil company or otherwise had influence over Women of the Storm or its message. We have immediately asked for her participation in the PSA be removed until the facts can be determined. Her commitment to the Gulf region has been apparent for many years and she will continue to pursue opportunities that will bring awareness and support to the plight of the Gulf region.&quot;</p>
<p>The Restore the Gulf&#39;s PSA also includes celebrities like Bryan Batt, John Goodman, Lenny Kravitz, Dave Matthews, James Carville, Alfre Woodard&#0160;and Harry Shearer. The &quot;Be the One&quot; PSA campaign directs viewers to the Restore the Gulf website, where users can sign a petition to demand that&#0160;&quot;a plan to restore America&#39;s Gulf be fully funded and implemented for me and future generations.&quot; As the website Treehugger notes,&#0160;it <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/greenwashing-sandra-bullock-speaks-out-about-celebrity-campaign-big-oil.php?campaign=daily_nl">does not specify</a> who should be responsible.</p>
<p>Spearheading the campaign, which launched July 20, was the org <a href="http://www.womenofthestorm.net/press.php">Women of the Storm</a>.</p>
<p>Today, the wetlands org <a href="http://www.americaswetland.com/files/073010AWFoundationWhoWeArVM.pdf">issued a lengthy response</a>&#0160;and <a href="http://www.americaswetland.com/files/073010-AWF-FactCheckVM2.pdf">rebuttal</a>, arguing that it was independent from oil company money and &quot;at no time was a major sponsor of the AWF invited to sit on the board or direct the actions of the Foundation.&quot; </p>
<p>&quot;In the case of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, AWF has been clear in its position: a portion of the damages to be paid by BP must go to coastal restoration of disappearing wetlands and barrier islands. AWF and some of its partners – Environmental Defense Fund, National Wildlife Federation, National Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, Ducks Unlimited, and Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana – recently ran ads in national and regional publications, calling for measures that would accelerate restoration, and “ensuring that a significant percentage of the penalty monies that will be paid by BP be dedicated to coastal restoration as reparations for the contamination of the thousands of acres of coastal marsh that cannot be cleaned up.” AWF has never advocated that taxpayers foot the bill for the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.</p>
<p>&quot;Since day one, AWF has purposefully invited the oil and gas industry to participate in the work of the Foundation in raising awareness of land loss and in its America’s Energy Coast initiative that brings together national environmental organizations with industry and diverse coastal interests to forge cooperation in making the Gulf region sustainable, both economically and environmentally.&quot;</p>
<p>One participant I talked to that the story is overblown, and that a distinction wasn&#39;t made between the restoration of the wetlands and the cleanup of the oil spill. The former has long been a problem in New Orleans; the latter is what is on everyone&#39;s radar.</p>
<center>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/ratings-record-for-the-view.html">
        Ratings Record for "The View"
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Published: Fri, July 30, 2010,  4:36 PM<br>




      
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        <p>President Obama&#39;s visit to &quot;The View&quot; <a href="http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/zontv/2010/07/obama_visit_sets_ratings_recor.html">drew an all-time high</a> of 6.59 million viewers, exceeding the previous record a day after Election Day, 2008. That day, 6.17 million viewers watched.</p>
<p>ABC said it was the most watched episode in 17 months among women 18-34 and women 18-49.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/presidents-do-daytime-before-the-view-there-was-dr-phil.html">
        Presidents Do Daytime: Before "The View," There Was "Dr. Phil"
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Published: Fri, July 30, 2010,  9:07 AM<br>




      
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        <p>President Obama&#39;s appearance on &quot;The View&quot; was promoted as historic, groundbreaking and a first daytime appearance of a sitting U.S. president. But as Jon Stewart pointed out last night, George W. Bush and his wife Laura appeared on <a href="http://www.drphil.com/shows/show/529/">&quot;Dr. Phil.&quot;</a></p><p></p><center><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="353" style="font: 11px arial; color: #333333; background-color: #f5f5f5;" width="360"><tbody><tr style="background-color: #e5e5e5;" valign="middle"><td style="padding: 2px 1px 0px 5px;"><a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com" style="color: #333333; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">The Daily Show With Jon Stewart</a></td><td style="padding: 2px 5px 0px; text-align: right; font-weight: bold;">Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c</td></tr><tr style="height: 14px;" valign="middle"><td colspan="2" style="padding: 2px 1px 0px 5px;"><a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-july-29-2010/leader-s-digest" style="color: #333333; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">Leader&#39;s Digest</a><a></a></td></tr><tr style="height: 14px; background-color: #353535;" valign="middle"><td colspan="2" style="padding: 2px 5px 0px; width: 360px; overflow: hidden; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/" style="color: #96deff; text-decoration: none; font-weight: bold;" target="_blank">www.thedailyshow.com</a></td></tr><tr valign="middle"><td colspan="2" style="padding: 0px;"><embed allowfullscreen="true" allownetworking="all" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#000000" flashvars="autoPlay=false" height="301" src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/mgid:cms:item:comedycentral.com:341335" style="display: block;" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="360" wmode="window" /></td></tr><tr style="height: 18px;" valign="middle"><td colspan="2" style="padding: 0px;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" height="100%" style="margin: 0px; text-align: center;" width="100%"><tbody><tr valign="middle"><td style="padding: 3px; width: 33%;"><a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/" style="font: 10px arial; color: #333333; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Daily Show Full Episodes</a></td><td style="padding: 3px; width: 33%;"><a href="http://www.indecisionforever.com/" style="font: 10px arial; color: #333333; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Political Humor</a></td><td style="padding: 3px; width: 33%;"><a href="http://www.thedailyshow.com/videos/tag/Tea+Party" style="font: 10px arial; color: #333333; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Tea Party</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></center>
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By: <a href="mailto:ted.johnson@variety.com">Ted Johnson</a><br />
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/help-wanted-mpaa-chief.html">
        Help Wanted: MPAA Chief
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Published: Thu, July 29, 2010,  7:03 PM<br>




      
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        <p>In retrospect <a href="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118022354.html?categoryid=13&amp;cs=1&amp;ref=vertfilm">the news that the Motion Picture Assn. of America is moving on</a> in its search for a new chief is not surprising. It has been months, not weeks, since word that Bob Kerrey was talking with the lobbying org, and at a certain point studio chiefs got impatient until things came to a head on Wednesday. The official parting of the ways came on Thursday morning.</p>
<p>It&#39;s at least a momentary blow to the hopes that the org would find a &quot;star politico&quot; to fill the position, and Kerrey in many respects fit the bill: a former governor and senator and former presidential candidate, with a reputation as an independent thinker who could straddle partisan lines. The problem: Time. The studios wanted someone engaged in D.C. 24/7, a transition to the nitty gritty of lobbying that apparently Kerrey wasn&#39;t willing to make.</p>
<p>The studios now face restarting the search, and the question: Do they want to pursue another star, or someone who&#39;ll dive right in to the job?</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/obamas-pop-quiz-on-view.html">
        Obama's Pop Quiz on "View"
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Published: Thu, July 29, 2010, 11:31 AM<br>




      
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        <p>If there some still have concern that a daytime talk show is too undignified for the office of the president, the pop culture pop quiz that President Obama underwent on <a href="http://theview.abc.go.com/">&quot;The View&quot;</a> probably is just what they had in mind. Take it another way: Chill out, we now know that he knows Lindsay Lohan is in jail.</p><br />
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<p></p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Among the not amused is Sarah Palin, who <a href="http://twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA">writes</a> on Twitter, &quot;<span class="entry-content">President w/no time to visit porous US/Mexican border to offer help to those risking life to secure us,but lotso&#39; time to chat on The View?&quot;</span> </p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/roses-and-thorns-for-obama-on-the-view.html">
        Roses and Thorns for Obama on "The View"
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Published: Wed, July 28, 2010,  8:36 PM<br>




      
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        <p>More than any other administration, the Obama White House has taken advantage of unconventional places to pitch the President&#39;s agenda, whether it be &quot;The Tonight Show with Jay Leno&quot; or ESPN. </p>

<p>It&#39;s still open to debate whether this is helping Obama&#39;s popularity, but he took another try at it today when he was in New York to tape an appearance on &quot;The View,&quot; the first in-studio daytime talk show appearance for a commander in chief.</p>

<p>ABC News released some clips of his appearance this afternoon, in which Barbara Walters asked Obama what has been the &quot;rose&quot; and the &quot;thorn&quot; in the past month.</p>

<p>Of the former, Obama said, &quot;In the last month the rose has to be a couple of days we took in Maine 
with Michelle, Sasha and Malia. They&#39;re full of opinions and 
ideas and observations and it&#39;s just a great age ... Malia just turned 
12 and Sasha 9. Couldn&#39;t been a better couple of days.&quot; </p>

<p>Of the latter, he said, &quot;Where do I begin?&quot;</p><center><img border="0" height="0" src="http://counters.gigya.com/wildfire/IMP/CXNID=2000002.0NXC/bT*xJmx*PTEyODAzNzM5ODUwMjUmcHQ9MTI4MDM3NDQzMDA*OCZwPTEyNTg*MTEmZD1BQkNOZXdzX1NGUF9Mb2NrZV9FbWJlZCZn/PTImbz**ZGJjNThkY2ZiZDc*MGM4YmUxN2NmNTkzOTViODU1ZCZvZj*w.gif" style="visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px;" width="0" /><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,124,0" height="278" id="ABCESNWID" width="344"><param name="movie" value="http://abcnews.go.com/assets/player/walt2.6/flash/SFP_Walt.swf" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowNetworking" value="all" /><param name="flashvars" value="configUrl=http://abcnews.go.com/video/sfp/embedPlayerConfig&amp;configId=406732&amp;clipId=11273874&amp;showId=11273874&amp;gig_lt=1280373985025&amp;gig_pt=1280374430048&amp;gig_g=2" /><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allownetworking="all" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="configUrl=http://abcnews.go.com/video/sfp/embedPlayerConfig&amp;configId=406732&amp;clipId=11273874&amp;showId=11273874&amp;gig_lt=1280373985025&amp;gig_pt=1280374430048&amp;gig_g=2" height="278" name="ABCESNWID" pluginspage="http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" quality="high" src="http://abcnews.go.com/assets/player/walt2.6/flash/SFP_Walt.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="344" /></object></center>

<p>Obama taped his appearance before a series of fund-raisers in New York, including <a href="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/28/obama-hits-two-manhattan-fundraisers/?hp">one hosted </a>by Vogue editor Anna Wintour.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/another-stone-apology.html">
        Another Stone Apology
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        <p>Oliver Stone apologized to the Anti-Defamation League for whet he called &quot;glib&quot; <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/oliver-stone-apologizes-for-jewish-domination-remarks.html">remarks he made</a> criticizing Israel&#39;s role in America&#39;s foreign policy.</p>
<p>According to the Anti-Defamation League, Stone told its national director, Abraham Foxman, &quot;I do agree that it was wrong of me to say that Israel or the pro-Israel lobby is to blame for America&#39;s flawed foreign policy.&#0160; Of course that&#39;s not true and I apologize that my inappropriately glib remark has played into that negative stereotype.&quot;</p>
<p>Foxman said, &quot;I believe he now understands the issues and where he was wrong, and this puts an end to the matter.&quot;<br /></p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/behind-the-scenes-with-mccartney-in-dc.html">
        Behind the Scenes with McCartney in D.C.
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Published: Wed, July 28, 2010,  1:56 PM<br>




      
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        <p>PBS tonight runs &quot;In Performance at the White House,&quot; the June 2 concert and ceremony in the East Room in which Paul McCartney accepted the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize. PBS video director Charlie Lightening captured behind the scenes moments with McCartney at the Library of Congress and as he prepared for the White House event.</p><br />
<center>
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<p style="MARGIN-TOP: 5px; FONT-SIZE: 11px; BACKGROUND: none transparent scroll repeat 0% 0%; WIDTH: 512px; COLOR: #808080; FONT-FAMILY: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; TEXT-ALIGN: center">Watch the <a href="http://video.pbs.org/video/1553645714" style="font-weight: normal! important; COLOR: #4eb2fe! important; HEIGHT: 13px; text-decoration: none! important" target="_blank">full episode</a>. See more <a href="http://www.pbs.org/whitehouse/" style="font-weight: normal! important; COLOR: #4eb2fe! important; HEIGHT: 13px; text-decoration: none! important" target="_blank">In Performance at The White House.</a></p></center>
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<p>And for the kids, the White House has posted behind-the-scenes video of the Jonas Brothers at the event. 
<p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/haim-saban-to-oliver-stone-time-to-retire.html">
        Haim Saban to Oliver Stone: Time to Retire
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Published: Wed, July 28, 2010,  9:59 AM<br>




      
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        <p>Haim Saban says that Oliver Stone belongs &quot;in the professional wilderness&quot; following his remarks to a British reporter that &quot;Jewish domination of the media&quot; was a reason for the focus on the Holocaust.</p><p>Stone <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/oliver-stone-apologizes-for-jewish-domination-remarks.html">issued an apology</a> on Monday, calling his comments &quot;clumsy.&quot;</p><p>Saban <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/haim-saban/shame-on-oliver-stone_b_662132.html">writes</a> on Huffington Post, &quot;Oliver Stone should be given a helping hand -- indeed, a vigorous 
shove -- into the land of forced retirement. There, in the professional 
wilderness where he belongs, standing on a splintered soapbox right next
 to Mel Gibson&#39;s, he can preach his anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism 
into the wind.</p>

<p>&quot;Anyone who works with this guy should be ashamed of himself/herself, 
and shouldn&#39;t share this distasteful fact with their neighbors -- and 
especially their kids.&quot;</p><p>Stone has a project, &quot;The Secret History of America,&quot; in the works for Showtime.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/libel-tourism-law-clears-congress.html">
        "Libel Tourism" Law Clears Congress
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Published: Tue, July 27, 2010,  5:50 PM<br>




      
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        <p>Britain&#39;s libel and defamation laws are stricter than they are in the United States, which is one reason that celebrities increasingly have sought to sue American publications in London or elsewhere. There&#39;s a greater chance they&#39;ll win.</p>
<p>But the House today passed what&#39;s called the Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established Constitutional Heritage Act, or SPEECH Act, which will prohibit plaintiffs from collecting in U.S. courts those foreign judgments that don&#39;t conform to the First Amendment. The bill, which passed the Senate last week and now heads to President Obama for his signature, addresses what is commonly called &quot;libel tourism.&quot;</p>
<p>Its sponsor, Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.), said in a statement that “libel tourism threatens to undermine free speech in the U.S. because, with the rise of the Internet and foreign courts’ liberal exercise of personal jurisdiction over Americans, foreign defamation law that lacks the constitutionally mandated speech-protective features of U.S. law can be applied to publications that are substantially or entirely distributed in the U.S.&quot;</p>
<p>Author Rachel Ehrenfeld has been the instigator of the federal anti-libel tourism law as well as a state law in New York. Her 2003 book &quot;Funding Evil&quot; documented how Saudi billionaire Khalid bin Mahfouz funded al-Qaeda, Hamas and other terrorist organizations. He sued for libel in London and won a hefty default judgment. </p>
<p>&quot;With this legislation Congress has taken action against libel tourism --- a dire threat to our freedom and democracy,&quot; she said after the bill passed.</p>
<p>Among <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/invasion-of-the-libel-tourists-904111.html">those who have sought judgments</a> in overseas courts recently are Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, who sued the National Enquirer in London; Roman Polanski, who sued Vanity Fair in London; and Britney Spears, who sued the Enquirer in Belfast. <a href="http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=22764">One of the first Hollywood &quot;libel tourists&quot;</a> was Arnold Schwarzenegger, who sued author Wendy Leigh in a British court in 1990 over her unauthorized biography that claimed he held anti-Semitic views. But as California&#39;s governor, Schwarzenegger signed a state&#0160;anti-libel tourism law last year.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/hollywood-ecoactivists-face-the-darker-side-of-green.html">
        Hollywood Eco-Activists Face "The Darker Side of Green"
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Published: Tue, July 27, 2010,  2:23 PM<br>




      
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        <p><a href="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef0133f29bf5c2970b-pi" style="FLOAT: left"></a><a href="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485c03908970c-pi" style="FLOAT: left"><img alt="Lexus-A_6" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485c03908970c " src="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485c03908970c-300wi" style="MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px; WIDTH: 280px" /></a> There is perhaps no better symbol what&#39;s happened to celebrity environmental activism than an event in New York tonight, a semi-comic/semi-serious &quot;debate&quot; on global warming with the nefarious sounding name &quot;The Darker Side of Green.&quot;</p>
<p>With a handful of eco-friendly, A-list&#0160;celebrities like Kristen Bell,&#0160;Adrien Brody&#0160;and Ashton Kutcher having attended past events, it&#39;s actually part of <a href="http://www.lexusdarkride.com/">a campaign by Lexus</a> to use fame to sell its new hybrid, in a more provocative way. But it was not too long ago, in the wake of &quot;An Inconvenient Truth,&quot; that the common refrain among environmentalists was that the debate was settled. The scientific consensus is that man-made climate change is real, so there really is no reason to debate the deniers. </p>
<p>Granted, the Lexus debate in New York featuring energy advocate Amanda Little&#0160;vs. climate skeptic Phelim McAleer could hardly be called a victory for warming deniers, given that moderator Sarah Silverman, herself an environmental advocate, had a tendency to pose questions to McAleer&#0160;like, &quot;Why do you hate polar bears?&quot; As the butt of many a joke, McAleer was hardly changing people&#39;s minds, nor was&#0160;this a forum to where much was taken seriously. (As the nightclub crowd keeps chattering away during the debate, Silverman shouts, &quot;I hate all you people!&quot;)</p>
<p>The truth is that many an environmental advocate thought that they&#39;d be much further along than this, particularly after Al Gore&#39;s 2007&#0160;campaign to raise awareness, the expanded majority of Democrats in 2008 and the inauguration of President Obama in 2009.&#0160;It perhaps speaks to the strength of &quot;climategate&quot; to again raise doubts in the public&#39;s mind that climate change exists, coupled with worries over a flagging economy. Marketing and PR consultant Patrick Courrielche, who has been promoting and marketing the <a href="http://www.lexusdebates.com/">Darker Side of Green debates</a> for Lexus, has <a href="http://bigjournalism.com/pcourrielche/2010/01/08/peer-to-peer-review-how-climategate-marks-the-maturing-of-a-new-science-movement-part-i/">written extensively</a>&#0160;about &quot;climategate&quot; for Andrew Breitbart&#39;s BigJournalism sites.</p>
<p>&quot;The inconvenient truth now is that the environmental movement is deeply fractured,&quot; says Trevor Neilson, president of the Global Philanthropy Group, which advises celebrity clients on activism and giving. </p>
<p>&quot;We had a lot of clients following [the climate bill], but there was a messaging problem. What was being done wasn&#39;t clear. ..They have to have a coherent message that accompanies a tough bill, not a confused message that addresses a watered down bill.&quot;</p>
<p>Today, Robert Redford expressed frustration in a post on Huffington Post in which he slammed the GOP, chided moderate Democrats and rebuked President Obama.</p>
<p>He <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-redford/its-the-opportunity-stupi_b_660533.html">writes</a>, &quot;Stronger leadership from the White House could have helped burst through political obstructions. President Obama has certainly done more than any other president to advance clean energy, yet he never seemed to roll up his sleeves, bring lawmakers to the table, and work to rally the American public behind it. If he thought his move earlier this year to approve new offshore oil drilling for the first time in decades would pay off last week in the form of GOP support for this bill, I guess he got his answer.&quot;</p>
<p>As for Lexus&#39; campaign, &quot;the darker side of green&quot; doesn&#39;t exactly sound like a rallying cry to eco-activists, but that apparently is not the point. It&#39;s to add an extra level of cool to a type of vehicle that has generated some ridicule from the likes of &quot;South Park.&quot; During the debate, Little said the vehicles were just the transition before the adoption of the electric car, and noted that one image problem that hybrid cars have had is &quot;smugness.&quot;<br /><br /></p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/oliver-stone-apologizes-for-jewish-domination-remarks.html">
        Oliver Stone Apologizes for "Jewish Domination" Remarks
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        <p><a href="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef0133f29453ae970b-pi" style="FLOAT: right"><img alt="Stone_wilshire" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341bfc7553ef0133f29453ae970b " src="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef0133f29453ae970b-800wi" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px" title="Stone_wilshire" /></a> Oliver Stone has issued an apology for remarks he made in a Sunday Times of London interview in which he reportedly said that &quot;Jewish domination of the media&quot; was why there was such a focus on the Holocaust.</p>
<p>In a statement, Stone said, &quot;In trying to make a broader historical point about the range of atrocities the Germans committed against many people, I made a clumsy association about the Holocaust, for which I am sorry and regret. Jews obviously do not control media or any other industry. The fact that the Holocaust is still a very important, vivid and current matter today is, in fact, a great credit to the very hard work of a broad coalition of people committed to the remembrance of this atrocity --- and it was an atrocity.&quot;</p>
<p>Stone <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2010/07/26/oliver-stone-sorry-about-holocaust-comments/">reportedly had been asked</a> by the paper why there had been such a focus on the Holocaust, and he replied, &quot;The Jewish domination of the media. They stay on top of every comment, the most powerful lobby in Washington. Israel has f—– up United States foreign policy for years.&quot;</p>
<p>He also said, “<span>Hitler did far more damage to the Russians than the Jewish people, 25 or 30m.” </span></p>
<p>His comments drew immediate rebuke from Jewish organizations. </p>
<p>“By invoking this grotesque, toxic stereotype, Oliver Stone has outed himself as an anti-Semite,” said David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee. “For all of Stone’s progressive pretensions, his remark is no different from one of the drunken, Jew-hating rants of his fellow <st1:place w:st="on">Hollywood</st1:place> celebrity, Mel Gibson.”</p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font color="#000000">Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, said, &quot;<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font color="#000000">Oliver Stone has once again shown his conspiratorial colors with his comments about ‘Jewish domination of the media’ and control over <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> foreign policy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>His words conjure up some of the most stereotypical and conspiratorial notions of undue Jewish power and influence.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160;</span></font></span></font></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font color="#000000"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font color="#000000"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&quot;</span></font></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font color="#000000">The myth of Jewish control is an old stereotype that persists to this day.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&#0160; </span>Stone uses it in a particularly egregious fashion by suggesting that Hitler has gotten an unfair shake because of Jewish influence.&quot;</font></span></font></span></p>
<p><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font color="#000000"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: Arial"><font color="#000000">Stone is working on a miniseries for Showtime called &quot;The Secret History of America.&quot;</font></span></font></span></p>
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  <div class="entry" id="entry-6a00d8341bfc7553ef0133f291da6f970b">
    
      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/rnc-event-in-beverly-hills-with-steele-and-breitbart.html">
        RNC Event in Beverly Hills with Steele and Breitbart
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Published: Mon, July 26, 2010, 12:45 PM<br>




      
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        <p>Talking Points Memo <a href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/steele-to-hold-rnc-event----co-starring-andrew-breitbart.php">reports </a>that Michael Steele and the Republican National Committee are hosting an &quot;election countdown&quot; at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel from Aug. 12-14, with Andrew Breitbart among the guests. Also on the bill: California Lt. Gov. Abel Maldonado and Steve Forbes.</p>
<p>The event is a fund-raiser for the RNC Victory Fund, with tickets starting at $1,000 per person and going up to $30,400.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/quotable-elton-john.html">
        Quotable: Elton John
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Published: Mon, July 26, 2010, 11:08 AM<br>




      
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        &#0160;&quot;We are all very pleased to be playing in Arizona. I have read that some of the artists won&#39;t come here. They are (expletive)wits! Let&#39;s face it: I still play in California, and as a gay man I have no legal rights whatsoever. So what&#39;s the (expletive) with these people?&quot; Elton John, on musicians <a href="http://azstarnet.com/article_f13019c4-9692-11df-a25d-001cc4c002e0.html">who have boycotted</a> Arizona over its new immigration law.
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/the-president-on-the-view.html">
        The President on "The View"
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Published: Mon, July 26, 2010,  8:48 AM<br>




      
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        <p><a href="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485b49fca970c-pi" style="FLOAT: right"><img alt="Abc_obama_view2_080327_ms" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485b49fca970c " src="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485b49fca970c-300wi" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px; WIDTH: 280px" /></a> President Obama will guest on &quot;The View&quot; on Thursday --- marking the first time a commander-in-chief has stopped by the daytime program. After his appearances on &quot;The Tonight Show with Jay Leno&quot; and &quot;Late Show with David Letterman,&quot; it&#39;s just the latest media &quot;first&quot; for Obama, but also shows the power of the ABC show as a political platform. Next question: Can an a full-hour sitdown on Oprah Winfrey&#39;s&#0160; show be far behind?</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Obama <a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/president-obama-to-appear-on-the-view/">will tape</a> his appearance on Wednesday and it will be show on Thursday.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/alexandra-pelosi-shines-light-on-unseen-side-of-oc.html">
        Alexandra Pelosi Shines Light on Unseen Side of O.C.
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Published: Mon, July 26, 2010,  8:37 AM<br>




      
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        <p>Here&#39;s<a href="http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=print_story&amp;articleid=VR1118022127&amp;categoryid=-1"> my story </a>from the print edition of Variety on &quot;Homeless: The Motel Kids of Orange County,&quot; Alexandra Pelosi&#39;s latest documentary for HBO that premieres tonight. This is a big departure for her in that it&#39;s not about partisan politics or the evangelical divide, but a subject that is a tough sell in the news cycle. She follows several children and their families as the trek from motel to motel, some of them just down the street from Disneyland.</p><p>The project is not political, but it may be impossible not to think of some of the debates raging in Washington today. Several weeks ago, the Obama administration announced a plan to alleviate homeless in America, but it got virtually no attention.</p><p>Pelosi says, &quot;Those kids don&#39;t have an audience. Who wants to watch 
homeless kids? That is what is so sad about what has happened to 
American politics. Now it is just, &#39;I love her. I hate her.&#39; It is just 
Bill O&#39;Reilly vs. Rachel Maddow. Homeless kids have no shot. It is not 
sexy.&quot;</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/roundup-recap-the-week.html">
        Roundup & Recap: The Week
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Published: Fri, July 23, 2010,  9:47 PM<br>




      
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        <p>
<a href="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485a8322e970c-pi" style="float: left;"><img alt="Shirley_1684110c" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485a8322e970c " src="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485a8322e970c-300wi" style="width: 280px; margin: 0px 5px 5px 0px;" /></a> Here are some of the stories I covered in the past seven days:</p>

<p><strong>The whiplash you witnessed was the White House, Tom Vilsack, much of the media, Bill O&#39;Reilly </strong>and assorted others at Fox News doing a <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/white-house-to-shirley-sherrod-sorry.html">big about-face</a> in the case of Shirley Sherrod, one of the more memorable cases of a figure<a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/winning-the-afternoon.html"> thrust into the vortex</a> and still showing grace. Andrew Breitbart, who initiated the story by posting the truncated YouTube clips, <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/breitbart-unrepentant.html">was unrepentan</a>t, but he&#39;s certainly not slinking away.</p>

<p><strong>There are</strong> <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/a-truce-on-net-neutrality.html">growing signs </a>of some kind of compromise on net neutrality, while some die-hard Obama-ites <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/russell-simmons-reinstate-dan-choi.html">are upset</a> that Dan Choi got his discharge papers.</p>

<p><strong>&#0160;
Also:</strong> PBS&#39;s ombudsman <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/pbs-ombudsman-george-shultz-documentary-has-credibility-problem.html">found fault</a> with a George Shultz documentary&#39;s credibility; Hollywood <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/show-biz-still-supports-the-democrats.html">still loves</a> the Democrats, even if their leadership is in peril; Barbara Boxer <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/boxer-courts-young-hollywood.html">is tapping</a> show biz (again); Barney Frank <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/watch-it-with-the-kids.html">gave Kathy Griffin</a> a tsk tsk; and the Obamas <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/broadway-night-at-the-white-house.html">saluted </a>Broadway at the White House.</p>

<p><strong>
<a href="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485a837c3970c-pi" style="float: right;"><img alt="4724093245_9e0faecc56" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485a837c3970c " src="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485a837c3970c-300wi" style="width: 280px; margin: 0px 0px 5px 5px;" /></a> And</strong>...another journalism legend passed on, the great <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/daniel-schorr.html">Daniel Schorr.</a></p>

<p><strong>Finally</strong>, for Mary Poppins fans, here&#39;s one shot (right) that was posted recently on the White House Flickr site, Obama and Dick Van Dyke at a Ford&#39;s Theatre reception.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/russell-simmons-reinstate-dan-choi.html">
        Russell Simmons: Reinstate Dan Choi
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Published: Fri, July 23, 2010,  4:11 PM<br>




      
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        <p>Russell Simmons is the latest Hollywood Obama supporter to express frustration at the White House, this time over the&#0160;honorable discharge&#0160;of Lt. Dan Choi on Thursday under the Don&#39;t Ask, Don&#39;t Tell policy. Obama has vowed to repeal it, but it&#39;s still in force until then.</p>
<p>Simmons <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/russell-simmons/mr-president-if-you-dont_b_657804.html">writes</a>, &quot;Yesterday, was a sad day in America. One of our nation&#39;s heroes was told he was not allowed to do his job of protecting our country because of his sexual orientation. Lt. Dan Choi honorably served this nation at war in Iraq and now, at great misfortune, has become a casualty of war that still rages in our homeland; the war for equal rights for all Americans. For the sake of your legacy and the legacy of one of our nation&#39;s greatest attributes, its tolerance of diversity, Mr. President, it is now the time to put the security of our nation first over the intolerance of others and re-instate Lt. Choi to his National Guard duties.&quot;</p>
<p>He was otherwise praiseworthy of Obama, noting the &quot;dirty media tricks&quot; including the whole Shirley Sherrod affair this week.</p>
<p>&quot;Mr. President, the time has come for Barack Obama to be Barack Obama. When you know things are not right, we expect you to fix them. We have already lost Van Jones. We might lose Shirley Sherrod. Let us not lose Lt. Dan Choi.&quot;</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/daniel-schorr.html">
        Daniel Schorr
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Published: Fri, July 23, 2010, 12:28 PM<br>




      
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        <p><a href="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485a5645d970c-pi" style="FLOAT: left"><img alt="Schorr01" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485a5645d970c " src="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485a5645d970c-800wi" style="MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" title="Schorr01" /></a> The NPR commentator, who died today,&#0160;was a journalistic legend, having worked at CBS News under Edward R. Murrow, interviewed Nikita Khrushchev (the first ever with a Soviet leader) and a central broadcast figure in exposing Watergate.</p>
<p>NPR has posted an <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128565997">obit</a>, as well as a sort <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128565997">recap of his career, in his own words</a>. A highlight is where he recounts being given the names of those on Nixon&#39;s &quot;enemies list&quot; and rushing to read it on the air. To his surprise, he was No. 17 on the list.</p>
<p>&quot;I remember that my first thought was that I must go on reading without any pause, or gasp or look of wild surmise,&quot; he <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/23/national/main6706521.shtml?tag=cbsContent;cbsCarousel">wrote</a> in his book &quot;Clearing the Air.&quot; <br /><br />&quot;I do not know how well I carried off my effort to appear oblivious to the discovery of my name on an ominous-looking list, but I count this one of the most trying experiences in my television career.&quot; </p>
<p>NPR&#39;s Vivian Schiller announced his death in a memo, posted on LA Observed:</p>
<p>She <a href="http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2010/07/daniel_schorr_longtime_co.php#more">wrote</a>, &quot;It’s impossible to overestimate Dan’s impact on journalism – from his early days working with Edward R. Murrow, to the founding of CNN, to the last 25 years as NPR’s news analyst, a familiar and beloved voice to millions of listeners. Every one of us who happened to see Dan coming in to work -- walking a little more slowly with time but with a razor-sharp wit and warmth that never dimmed – learned a lesson in the dedication, determination, and integrity that it takes to be the best. He was.&quot;</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> The Nixon Library <a href="http://www.nixonlibrary.gov/virtuallibrary/recordings/histories/OH_Schorr.php">has posted portions of an interview</a> it did with Schorr about the Watergate era as part of its oral history project.</p>
<p>Here Schorr talks about Oliver Stone&#39;s &quot;Nixon&quot; and why it ultimately trivialized the Watergate scandal. </p>
<br />
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/winning-the-afternoon.html">
        Winning the Afternoon
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Published: Thu, July 22, 2010,  8:25 PM<br>




      
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        <p>Rebecca Dana of the Daily Beast marvels at how Shirley Sherrod took control of the story --- and even commanded apologies from Bill O&#39;Reilly and President Obama.</p><p>She <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-07-22/shirley-sherrods-obama-phone-call-and-oreilly-apology/">writes</a>, &quot;Over the course of several days, and a number of carefully chosen media 
interviews, Sherrod has taken back her own hijacked narrative, speaking 
honestly about her life experiences. Candor reads as genius these days, 
when news audiences are so used to talking points and crisis-management 
strategies. During a week in which the administration trotted out three 
“real people” to talk to news outlets about unemployment, here was an 
actual real person, the daughter of a leader of the civil rights movement. In the parlance of Politico, she won the 
afternoon.&quot;</p><p>A book deal inevitably follows the 15-minutes of fame, but in this case, you actually what to hear what she has to say.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/boxer-courts-young-hollywood.html">
        Boxer Courts Young Hollywood
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Published: Thu, July 22, 2010,  6:18 PM<br>




      
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        <p>Barbara Boxer will raise money at a $50-per-person event on Saturday at Hollywood nightclub Boulevard3.</p>
<p>The event is sponsored by the group Generation for Change, which already has held events for Jerry Brown and is the outgrowth of a group of young professionals who backed Barack Obama in 2008. (In fact, its origins can be traced to an event they held for Obama at Boulevard3 in April, 2007). </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Generation-For-Change/207894706319">invite</a> promises &quot;insight, action &amp; dancing,&quot; although it has the early bird starting time of 6 p.m. Hosts include Donald De Line, Marshall Herskovitz, Tobey Maguire, Lynda Obst, Frank Pierson, Alvin Sargent, Paula Weinstein and Laura Ziskin.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/breitbart-unrepentant.html">
        Breitbart Unrepentant
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Published: Thu, July 22, 2010,  4:54 PM<br>




      
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        <p>Why <em>would</em> Andrew Breitbart apologize? </p>
<p>If he were to, it would signal the end to the Shirley Sherrod story, and the fact that he&#39;s one of the few remaining figures involved in the whole affair not to offer contrition puts the spotlight on him. </p>
<p>Several hours ago, he <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/40117.html">told Politico</a> that he was &quot;public enemy No. 1 or 2 to the Democratic party, the progressive movement and the Obama administration based upon the successes my journalism has had.&quot; <br /><br />Breitbart is a master of Internet attention, having essentially the conduit for many a mainstream&#0160;journalist seeking web hits on the Drudge Report. But the driver of his Big Hollywood and Big Government sites is the very notion that the mainstream media are ignoring the real stories, ones that almost always shed light on liberal malfeasance or Democratic bungling.&#0160;In person he gives off the feeling of being&#0160;perpetually under siege, even if you are never quite sure what is putting him under siege. He&#39;ll argue about Hollywood&#39;s liberal bias with a veracity equal to that of raising fears about terrorism, and then fight tooth and nail if anyone suggests a contrarian point.</p>
<p>One of the stranger encounters I saw Breitbart involved in came in May, when he attended the MSNBC party after the White House Correspondents Dinner and waited in line for Rachel Maddow, the fete&#39;s guest bartender, to serve him. When he got to her, he blurted out something about ACORN and pimping, and she looked not only perplexed, but puzzled at who he was. She <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/22/rachel-maddow-fox-news-st_n_655744.html">certainly would recognize him now.</a></p>
<p>Many a journalism prof will weigh in, as they should,&#0160;on what this means about the media, but most will miss that this is all a kind of schtick. Many pundits will predict that he&#39;s been discredited, but I doubt that will make much of a dent in his Internet traffic. He won&#39;t lose a gig on Fox News or CNN or even Bill Maher because the whole fact that he can stir things up, even at the White House, is what it&#39;s all about. Going forward, the joke is on those who take it all too seriously.</p>
<p>On Thursday, he still defended the&#0160;posting of the video. </p>
<p>He told Politico, &quot;If anybody reads the sainted, martyred Sherrod’s entire speech, this person has not gotten past black vs. white.&quot; </p><p>Update: Breitbart&#39;s foes also could respond this way:</p><center><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Xu1D2cWgAzA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="385" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Xu1D2cWgAzA&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" /></object></center>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/a-truce-on-net-neutrality.html">
        A Truce on Net Neutrality?
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Published: Thu, July 22, 2010,  3:52 PM<br>




      
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        <p><a href="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef0133f27b6778970b-pi" style="FLOAT: right"><img alt="Internet_map_1024" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341bfc7553ef0133f27b6778970b " src="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef0133f27b6778970b-300wi" style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 5px 5px; WIDTH: 300px" /></a> Paul Misener, the global VP for public policy at Amazon, has written an op-ed in which he argues that there is a middle ground to be had in the rancor over net neutrality.</p>
<p>For the uninitiated, this debate has pitted Internet provider against content provider, or Comcast vs. Google, in that the proposed FCC rules would require that all web content be treated equally. In other words, one site couldn&#39;t get advantage over the other just because it has a&#0160;better delivery to users. If you listen just to diehards on both sides, the rhetoric you make you think that it&#39;&#39;s a choice between a free market and free speech.</p>
<p>The fact that it&#39;s Misener writing the op-ed is significant because Amazon is a member of the <a href="http://www.openinternetcoalition.com/index.cfm">Open Internet Coalition</a>, one of the chief proponents of robust net neutrality rules. He says he supports allowing Internet providers to provide premium services, i.e. those that have better quality, as long as it does not&#0160;&quot;degrade&quot; the content of other sites.</p>
<p>Misener <a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-20011284-38.html">writes</a>, &quot;Despite the continuing polarized debate, all three major groups of stakeholders--network operators, consumers, and content providers--would be better off with clear, balanced rules that prohibit harmful discrimination among content but also allows network operators to provide performance enhancement on equal terms, so long as it does not degrade the performance of other content. This would be a win-win-win solution, without compromise.&quot;</p>
<p>His op-ed comes the same week that the Progressive Policy Institute <a href="http://www.progressivefix.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/2010-July_Mandel.pdf">issued a report</a>calling for a two-year moratorium on net neutrality rules, arguing that it is &quot;unlikely&quot; that the regulations would boost employment in the telecom industry. But some liberal groups <a href="http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/60980">charge that the study</a>is backed by funding from AT&amp;T and other orgs long opposed to net neutrality.</p>
<p>FCC chairman Julius Genachowski has proposed reclassifying the Internet as a telecom service, giving it the legal standing it needs to impose rules of the road for the web.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/quotable.html">
        Quotable
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Published: Thu, July 22, 2010,  8:23 AM<br>




      
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        &quot;Mel Gibson, no one knows how to contain.&quot; California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/la-me-schwarzenegger-limbaugh-gibson-syndicate,0,1588929.storyhttp://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/la-me-schwarzenegger-limbaugh-gibson-syndicate,0,1588929.story">comparing </a>the oil spill response to the actor&#39;s outburst. He also made a few jokes at the expense of Rush Limbaugh.
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/white-house-to-shirley-sherrod-sorry.html">
        White House to Shirley Sherrod: Sorry
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Published: Wed, July 21, 2010, 12:13 PM<br>




      
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        <p>White House spokesman Robert Gibbs apologized on behalf of the Obama administration to former USDA official Shirley Sherrod for rushing to judgment in firing her after clips from one of her speeches were cast by Fox News commentators and blogger Andrew Breitbart as evidence of reverse racial bias.</p>
<p>&quot;Members of the administration acted without all the facts,&quot; Gibbs said.</p>
<p>Even though the story was pushed by Fox and Breitbart, it&#39;s become an embarrassment for the Obama administration,and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack in particular, for buying into the Fox and Breitbart&#0160;interpretation of the video without examining the context of the speech. In fact, the tone of coverage has gone from indignation at her remarks, to indignation at the White House and Vilsack for not reinstating her job. </p>
<p>But in a blog post today, conservative columnist David Frum noted how&#0160;right wing media&#0160;had shifted in their reaction to the story throughout the day on Tuesday.</p>
<p>He <a href="http://www.frumforum.com/is-breitbart-the-rights-dan-rather">writes</a>, &quot;You’ll never guess who emerged as the villains of the story in this second-day conservative react. Not Andrew Breitbart, the distributor of a falsified tape. No, the villains were President Obama and the NAACP for believing Breitbart’s falsehood.</p>
<p>&quot;Breitbart went almost universally unmentioned.&quot;</p>
<p>He added, &quot;When Dan Rather succumbed to the forged Bush war record hoax in 2004, CBS forced him into retirement. Breitbart is the conservative Dan Rather, but there will be no discredit, no resignation for him.&quot; </p>
<p>Breitbart said he had &quot;no second thoughts&quot; on an appearance on&#0160;&quot;Good Morning America&quot; this morning, although it was difficult to determine what he was addressing. He did say that the point of the posting was to address how the NAACP was using race as a way to discredit Tea Party supporters.</p>
<p>Here&#39;s his appearance with Eric Boehlert of Media Matters for America. Boehlert called on him to apologize to Sherrod and accused him of &quot;race bating.&quot; </p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/a-summer-snookering.html">
        A Summer Snookering
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Published: Tue, July 20, 2010,  7:13 PM<br>




      
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        <p><em><strong>Updated</strong></em></p><p>The NAACP says it was <a href="http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/">&quot;snookered&quot; by Fox News and Andrew Breitbart.</a> CNN <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/07/20/agriculture.employee.naacp/index.html?hpt=T2">has hopped on</a> to every aspect of&#0160;the Shirley Sherrod story. Even Glenn Beck <a href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/07/glenn_beck_defends_shirley_sherrod_its_possible_th.php?ref=fpa">says that she shouldn&#39;t</a> have lost her job. </p>
<p>A <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrNWw7TGkjo">video that appeared to show Sherrod</a>, an official of the USDA, admitting that she didn&#39;t want to help out a Georgia farmer because he was white instead turned out to say the total opposite. The farmer says she was responsible for saving his farm. And in <a href="http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/">context</a>, she was talking about her journey from seeing everything through the prism of race when instead she should have seen it through rich or poor.</p>
<p>What&#39;s puzzling is that even the edited video, run initially on <a href="http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/video-proof-the-naacp-awards-racism2010/">Breitbart&#39;s Big Government</a> and on Fox News shows, begs for context, but that didn&#39;t stop the NAACP from issuing a press release condemning her remarks and Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, with the White House&#39;s support, firing her. (Judge for yourself: The edited clip is <a href="http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d8341bfc7553ef00d8345179bb69e2/post/compose">here</a> and the full speech is <a href="http://www.naacp.org/news/entry/video_sherrod/">here</a>.) It&#39;s as if anything longer than 140 characters provides all the proof that is needed, no matter that the Obama administration has had a history of gripes and suspicions about Fox News&#39; coverage.</p><p>This certainly isn&#39;t the first rush to judgment when it comes to race, but it speaks to just how volatile it has become heading into the midterms, as this whole episode smacks of a back-and-forth between Tea Partiers and the NAACP. (It probably isn&#39;t even going to settle the controversy over Sherrod, as there&#39;s a gap in the middle of her remarks that the NAACP says is merely when the camera person was switching tapes. Let&#39;s see if that holds up to conspiracy theorists).</p>
<p>If there&#39;s a &quot;teachable moment,&quot; to use a phrase used a year ago when the Henry Louis Gates-Cambridge police confrontation exploded a year ago, it&#39;s to verify, no matter if it&#39;s coming from the left or right. </p>
<p>NAACP President Ben Jealous said in a statement, &quot;Next time we are confronted by a racial controversy broken by Fox News or their allies in the Tea Party like Mr. Breitbart, we will consider the source and be more deliberate in responding.&#0160; The tape of Ms. Sherrod’s speech at an NAACP banquet was deliberately edited to create a false impression of racial bias, and to create a controversy where none existed.&#0160; This just shows the lengths to which extremist elements will go to discredit legitimate opposition.&quot;</p><p><strong>Update:</strong> Jealous tells Rachel Maddow, &quot;We made a mistake here.&quot; </p><p>He says that Sherrod&#39;s speech was &quot;a story of transformation, a story of healing.&quot;</p><p>He says that since the NAACP started criticism of the Tea Party last week, they have received more than 100 death threats.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/pbs-ombudsman-george-shultz-documentary-has-credibility-problem.html">
        PBS Ombudsman: George Shultz Documentary Has "Credibility Problem"
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Published: Tue, July 20, 2010,  5:06 PM<br>




      
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        <p>PBS stations have been running a three-part documentary, &quot;Turmoil and Triumph: The George Shultz Years,&quot; which probably would not have gotten any attention were it not for reviews that wondered why it was so flattering and whether its length was a bit excessive.</p>
<p>Now PBS&#39;s ombudsman, Michael Getler, <a href="http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/">has weighed in</a>, and he says that the project is problematic because funding comes from orgs with links to Shultz, now 90.</p>
<p>He writes that &quot;mostly this film is over-the-top, in my view, with praise but with relatively little critical appraisal of some of the more controversial actions of Shultz’s tenure. It seems protective and goes so far as to have the unseen narrator say at one point, in the aftermath of the suicide bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 that killed 241 servicemen, that “although George Shultz has been instrumental in sending American forces to Beirut, he has had nothing to do with tying them down to an exposed position that was difficult to defend.”</p>
<p>&quot;Richard Reeves notes in his book “President Reagan: The Triumph of Imagination” that former President Nixon regularly advised Reagan on foreign affairs, and that “there was a bad word” from Nixon at the time of Shultz’s appointment. “Beware of Shultz. If things go wrong, he wasn’t part of it or never knew about it.”&quot;</p>
<p>Moreover, he says that it doesn&#39;t make mention of Shultz&#39;s support for going to war in Iraq.</p>
<p>PBS has defended the project, noting that funding came from an array of sources, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). And its producer, David deVries,&#0160;says he was never pressured to take a certain slant, nor did he even know who the funders were until late in the process.</p>
<p>The flap over the documentary --- more from a New York Times story&#0160;<a href="http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/pbs-ombudsman-criticizes-shultz-series/?ref=television">here</a> --- probably says more about the politics of today than those of the 1980s, the height of Shultz&#39;s career. He&#39;s far from the kind of figure who inflames partisan passions, and more recently he <a href="http://www.nti.org/c_press/letter_Shultz_Nunn_to_Kerry_071410.pdf">endorsed </a>President Obama&#39;s new START treaty with Russia, even as the pact faces opposition from congressional Republicans. But Getler says it&#39;s more about the appearance of a conflict of interest rather than an actual bias.</p>
<p>PBS routinely runs into criticism that it&#39;s disproportionately swayed toward liberal viewpoints. In fact, love of PBS has become a kind of litmus test to&#0160;measure political affinitiies, having been posed by an attorney to an expert witness in the recent federal Prop 8 trial. But the Shultz documentary highlights what is fast becoming a fact of life for documentary filmmakers: Secure funding, even from not-so-disinterested parties, and hope for the best, or don&#39;t be working at all.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/broadway-night-at-the-white-house.html">
        Broadway Night at the White House
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Published: Mon, July 19, 2010, 11:32 PM<br>




      
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        <p>President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama hosted the latest in their music series, this time focusing on Broadway musicals, with guests including Nathan Lane, Audra McDonald and Elaine Stritch. The event will air as part of PBS&#39; &quot;In Performance&quot; series.</p><p></p><center><object height="300" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/all/modules/swftools/shared/flash_media_player/player5x1.swf" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="bgcolor" value="282828" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="flashvars" value="config=http://www.whitehouse.gov/xml/video/18443/config.xml&amp;path_to_plugins=http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/modules/wh_multimedia/wh_jwplayer/plugins&amp;path_to_player=http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/all/modules/swftools/shared/flash_media_player/player5x1.swf" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="config=http://www.whitehouse.gov/xml/video/18443/config.xml&amp;path_to_plugins=http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/modules/wh_multimedia/wh_jwplayer/plugins&amp;path_to_player=http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/all/modules/swftools/shared/flash_media_player/player5x1.swf" height="300" src="http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/all/modules/swftools/shared/flash_media_player/player5x1.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" /></object></center>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/show-biz-still-supports-the-democrats.html">
        Show Biz Still Supports the Democrats
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Published: Mon, July 19, 2010,  5:51 PM<br>




      
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        <p>We&#39;re at the midway point of 2010, and Hollywood is still showering money on Democrats, even with the House and Senate in play.</p>
<p>According to the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/">Center for Responsive Politics</a>, Democrats have drawn 73% of contributions from show biz donors, including individuals and political action committees. Republicans have drawn 27%. That is just slightly less than the 78% to 22% split the last election cycle in 2008, and ahead of the 64% to 35% split in the last midterm cycle in 2006. The figures are for federal races only.</p>
<p>Comcast delivered the most contributors (in the form of employees and PACs) by far, a total of $2.1 million to candidates, 64% to Democrats and 35% to Republicans. In fact, of the top 20 donors, only Clear Channel Communications and Chartwell Partners, the latter led by longtime GOP&#0160;donor Jerry Perenchio, gave a majority of money to the GOP.</p>
<p>The top recipient of entertainment money was Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), having collected $329,800. The top Republican recipient was Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.), with $97,050. </p>
<p>Although a&#0160;corporate political action committees have a tendency to spread the wealth among candidates in both parties, the Open Secrets figures indicate that entertainment PACs have been leaning toward Democrats. The top recipient of show biz PAC money was Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), with $82,500. He chairs the House Commerce and Energy Committee, which has oversight of communications issues. The top Republican recipient was Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), with $66,750. Other top PAC recipients include Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Schumer and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Arkansas). Lincoln inserted a passage into financial reform banning the trading in box office futures, but many of her entertainment contributions come before the controversy over such trading erupted in March.</p>
<p>The figures are as of June 13. New data is expected soon as July 15 was the deadline for second quarter finance reports.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/watch-it-with-the-kids.html">
        Barney Frank Chides Kathy Griffin for Scott Brown Quip
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Published: Mon, July 19, 2010, 11:28 AM<br>




      
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        <p>Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) <a href="http://www1.whdh.com/news/articles/local/12001725712344/barney-frank-defends-scott-brown/">has condemned</a> Kathy Griffin&#39;s comment last week calling Sen. Scott Brown&#39;s daughters &quot;prostitutes.&quot;</p>
<p>Frank wrote to Griffin, &quot;I was particularly disappointed in the terrible comment you made about Sen. Scott Browns daughters. I think it’s possible to have fun, and even to poke fun at people in my business, without this kind of completely unfair attack,” Frank wrote. </p>
<p>Griffin made the comment on her Bravo series &quot;My Life on the D-List&quot; last week. Brown chided the comic and said that his family should be off limits.</p>
<p>Frank, who&#0160;was a guest star on the Bravo episode, <a href="http://www.house.gov/frank/letters/official/2010/07-16-10-kathy-griffen-letter.pdf">posted the letter</a> to his congressional website.</p>
<p>It reads: &quot;Having agreed to go on your show, I was particularly disappointed in the terrible comment you made about Scott Brown&#39;s daughters. I think it&#39;s possible to have fun, and even to poke fun at people in my business, without this kind of completely unfair attack. And while I don&#39;t usually feel compelled to comment on what various entertainers do, since you did include me in the show I wanted to make it very clear that I thought what you did was wholly unfair and inappropriate. It&#39;s the kind of think that makes it less likely that I or others can cooperate with you in the future.&quot;</p>
<p>Bravo added a disclaimer to Griffin&#39;s comment. But she <a href="http://twitter.com/kathygriffin/status/18897404064?loc=interstitialskip">Tweeted </a>last night, &quot;haha,Scott Brown is the Spencer Pratt of the US Senate.THIS is a great time 2 come c me live. OF COURSE I&#39;m lovin all the publicity LOVIN IT.&quot;</p><p><strong>Update:</strong> Griffin&#39;s producer Danny Salles explains who had a sense of humor and who didn&#39;t. Frank did not, and in the episode, looks<a href="http://www.bravotv.com/kathy-griffin-my-life-on-the-d-list/blogs/producers/mrs-kathy-goes-to-washington"> a bit exasperated </a>that Griffin is taking up his time.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/john-edwards-the-movie.html">
        John Edwards, the Movie
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Published: Thu, July 15, 2010,  7:09 PM<br>




      
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        <p><a href="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485767166970c-pi" style="FLOAT: left"><img alt="Edwards_john" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485767166970c " src="http://weblogs.variety.com/.a/6a00d8341bfc7553ef013485767166970c-800wi" style="MARGIN: 0px 5px 5px 0px" title="Edwards_john" /></a> Aaron Sorkin <a href="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118021834.html?categoryid=13&amp;cs=1&amp;ref=vertfilm">is writing, and plans to direct</a>, an adaptation of Andrew Young&#39;s &quot;The Politician,&quot; which chronicles the years that he worked as an aide to the North Carolina senator and presidential candidate.</p>
<p>Casting curiosities begin now...</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/pickens-new-energy-push.html">
        Pickens' New Energy Push
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Published: Thu, July 15, 2010,  5:57 PM<br>




      
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        <p>The BP oil <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/16/us/16spill.html?hp">has stopped gushing</a> in the Gulf of Mexico --- for now. Tonight, a group of young Hollywood activists will gather at an event at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills to talk about cleanup efforts. But the prospects for a bill to address the overriding issue --- energy and the environment --- are in doubt as Congress heads toward a summer recess.</p>
<p>Today, T. Boone Pickens, the unlikely champion of alternative fuels and other forms of energy, unveiled a new chapter in his &quot;PickensPlan,&quot; via a whiteboard video that updates progress since he first got started two years ago. When it comes to elminating the importation of OPEC oil, it&#39;s not a lot. But Pickens describes the &quot;low hanging fruit&quot; than can cut OPEC consumption in half, by converting 8 million diesel powered 18 wheelers to natural gas.</p>
<p>Here&#39;s the video:</p>
<center><embed base="http://admin.brightcove.com" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashvars="videoId=114791822001&amp;playerId=1632654798&amp;viewerSecureGatewayURL=https://console.brightcove.com/services/amfgateway&amp;servicesURL=http://services.brightcove.com/services&amp;cdnURL=http://admin.brightcove.com&amp;domain=embed&amp;autoStart=false&amp;" height="412" name="flashObj" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash" seamlesstabbing="false" src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f8/1632654798" swliveconnect="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="486" /></center>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/appeals-court-crude-director-must-turn-over-some-but-not-all-footage.html">
        Appeals Court: "Crude" Director Must Turn Over Some, But Not All, Footage
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Published: Thu, July 15, 2010,  4:28 PM<br>




      
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        <p><strong><em>Updated</em></strong></p>
<p>The decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, coming a day after they heard arguments from both sides, is not a surprise. But director Joe Berlinger must turn over all footage that shows counsel for the plaintiffs who are suing Chevron in Ecuador, as well as footage of private or court appointed experts and government officials.</p>
<p>Chevron also has to use the footage for its litigation, arbitration or for submission to official bodies. Berlinger&#39;s attorneys had argued for such a provision because of fears that the oil giant would use it in P.R. campaigns.</p>
<p>The three judges, Pierre Leval, Barrington Parker and Peter Hall, said an opinion is coming.</p>
<p>In May, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ruled that Berlinger must turn over all 600 hours of outtakes from &quot;Crude,&quot; which was released last year. The litigation that Chevron faces in Ecuador is the subject of his project.</p>
<p>Berlinger said that he was &quot;extremely pleased&quot; with the ruling and that the new order represents a &quot;significant reduction&quot; in the scope of the original subpoena.</p>
<p>He said in a statement: &quot;Since the court issued its Order without yet a corresponding legal opinion, I must reserve my full analysis of the results until the three-judge panel&#39;s opinion is rendered.&#0160; However, I can say that we are extremely pleased with today&#39;s results.&#0160; The appeals court has substantially limited Judge Kaplan&#39;s overbroad order, which was the main thrust of our appeal.&#0160; Furthermore, the court has expressly prohibited Chevron from using any footage we do turn over in their public relations campaigns, a goal that was extremely important to me.</p>
<p>&quot;I am gratified that by adhering to the basic standards of the journalist&#39;s privilege articulated in the previous precedent setting case Gonzalez vs. NBC, the appeals court for the Second Circuit has affirmed that documentary filmmakers are no different than any other journalists deserving First Amendment protection.&#0160; I am deeply grateful for the tremendous outpouring of support that the artistic, media and journalist communities have shown towards this case in the past three months.&#0160; It was precisely this support that gave me and my legal team at Frankfurt, Kurnit, Klein &amp; Selz the strength to stand up for these very important foundations of American democracy.&quot;</p>
<p><br />&#0160;</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/no-future-for-box-office-futures.html">
        No Future for Box Office Futures
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Published: Thu, July 15, 2010, 12:26 PM<br>




      
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        <p><strong><em>Updated</em></strong></p>
<p>With the Senate&#39;s <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0710/39788.html">passage of financial reform</a>, including a ban on the trading of&#0160;film futures, the whole idea of a market in the studio&#39;s weekend box office totals is dead.</p>
<p>Bob Pisano, interim CEO of the MPAA, issued this statement:</p>
<p>“Speaking on behalf of a coalition that includes the Directors Guild of America (DGA), the Independent Film and Television Alliance (IFTA), the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and its member companies, and the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO), I want to thank the Congress for approving this measure.</p>
<p>&quot;After proposals for these speculative gaming platforms came to light, our industry came together to oppose these plans with an unprecedented coalition that included entertainment industry workers, creators, independent producers and distributors, studios and theater owners.&#0160; We are pleased with final passage of this important legislation.&#0160; Congress has acted decisively to ban proposed trading in box office futures and to make important reforms in the country’s financial regulatory system.&#0160; We applaud the work the bill’s authors have done, and of course, the many Senators and Members who supported the provisions to prevent movie futures trading.”</p>
<p>Richard Jaycobs, president of the Cantor Exchange, said in an interview that the passage certainly was &quot;not unexpected.&quot; On June 28, the day that they received approval from federal regulators to trade in box office contracts, they announced that they would not actually&#0160;list the contracts, knowing that the legislation was coming.</p>
<p>&quot;Cantor Exchange will be announcing shortly new products,&quot; he said. &quot;Certainly it is disappointing that movies futures will not be one of them.&quot;</p>
<p>He added, &quot;We still believe that a great opportunity here has been missed to improve financing in the industry. Obviously others had a different opinion.&quot;</p>
<p>In March, it looked as if Cantor and another exchange, the Trend Exchange from Media Derivatives Inc., were on their way to approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. But then the studio lobby cried foul, raising objections and launching an eleventh hour campaign to halt the trading before it started. Although the commission ended up approving the creation of both exchanges and the trading in box office contracts, the MPAA lobbied lawmakers and successfully got a passage in the financial reform bill that specifically bans such contracts.</p>
<p>Jaycobs said, &quot;How it became a legislative ban is a story that may be worthy of a book if not a movie.&quot;</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/awaiting-a-decision-in-crude-case.html">
        "Crude" Director Hopeful Court Will Limit Chevron Order
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        <p><strong><em>Updated</em></strong></p>
<p>Joe Berlinger, the documentary filmmaker ordered to turn over some 600 hours of footage from his documentary &quot;Crude,&quot; says that he found a three-member appellate court &quot;sympathetic&quot; to his legal teams arguments.</p>
<p>The Second Circuit Court of Appeals this morning heard oral appeals from Berlinger&#39;s team and that of Chevron, which is seeking the footage to use in its defense of an environmental class action suit in Ecuador.</p>
<p>Berlinger&#39;s case already has drawn attention from First Amendment advocates and many other filmmakers, with even Mikhail Gorbachev signing a petition in support of the director along with Leonardo DiCaprio and Woody Allen. Meanwhile, Chevron has amassed its own cadre of supporters, include Dole Food Co., which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in which it related to the oil giant&#39;s claim that it faced &quot;fraudulent lawsuits&quot; aimed at U.S. companies in foreign jurisdictions. Also siding with Chevron is the National Assn. of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which noted that two of the company&#39;s executives, Rodrigo Perez Pallares and Ricardo Reis Veiga, face criminal charges for their role in a prior effort to settle the litigation in Ecuador.</p>
<p>Berlinger said in a statement after the hearing: &quot;While I certainly don&#39;t want to call the game early and want to await the actual decision, it seems the court today was sympathetic to our primary concern about narrowing the amount of footage to be produced and making sure it is put under some kind of protective order. So, my fingers are crossed for a favorable decision.&quot;</p>
<p>A Chevron spokesman, Kent Robertson, issued this statement:</p>
<p>&quot;We fully support freedom the press and journalists’ rights. But &#39;Crude&#39; is not the work of a true journalist. In &#39;Crude,&#39; Mr. Berlinger cut material from the theatrical version for the DVD release at the instruction of the plaintiffs’ legal team. In doing so, Mr. Berlinger did what no journalist would do - he allowed his subjects to edit out possible misconduct on their part.</p>
<p>“From day one of this case, Chevron has simply wanted the truth to prevail. The footage Mr. Berlinger cut could help get to the truth and that is the sole reason for our interest in it. We believe this is a reasonable request – and a necessary one for anyone who cares about justice.&quot;</p>
<p>Berlinger&#0160;has noted&#0160;that the footage is still in the version of the movie posted on Netflix, and that Chevron raised no objections after an initial screening of the documentary.</p>
<p><strong>Update:</strong> Robertson&#39;s charge that Berlinger is not a &quot;true journalist&quot; cuts right to the director&#39;s reputation.&#0160;I interviewed Berlinger this afternoon, and he says in response to the statement: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal">&quot;Chevron has denied that there is pollution in the Amazon, but if there is pollution, then they deny that it is harmful; if it is harmful, they then deny it is their responsibility.</span></p>
<p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal">&quot;Now they are denying that I am a journalist. &#0160;When &#39;60 Minutes&#39; aired a highly critical story about the pollution case, they attacked &#39;60 Minutes&#39; and created their own mock news report to counter &#39;60 Minutes&#39;&#39; critcism. &#0160;Chevron mischaracterizes how, when and why the scene in &#39;Crude&#39; was deleted. &#0160;The film speaks for itself, as have the countless journalists who have praised&#0160;&#39;Crude&#39; for its fairness and balance, which probably makes these reviews of &#39;Crude&#39; propaganda in the eyes of Chevron.&quot;<br /><br /></span><br /></p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/bob-kerrey-were-in-the-final-stages-of-negotiating-with-mpaa.html">
        Bob Kerrey: "We're in the Final Stages of Negotiating" With MPAA
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Published: Tue, July 13, 2010,  8:01 PM<br>




      
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        <p>Bob Kerrey <a href="http://podfuse-dl.andomedia.com/800185/podfuse-origin.andomedia.com/citadel_origin/pods/WABC/WABC-Imus/7-13-10SenBOBKERRY.mp3">told Don Imus today</a> that he was in the &quot;final stages of negotiating&quot; to be the next head of the Motion Picture Assn. of America.</p><p>In an interview on his radio show this morning, Imus asked Kerrey what his next job would be after he leaves the New School.</p><p>“I’m talking very seriously with the Motion Picture Association of America,&quot; he said.</p><p>Imus responded, &quot;I thought you took that job.&quot; In May, Kerrey said that he was talking to the MPAA but that no decision had been made.</p><p>One difficulty had been working out his contract with the New School, as it runs through the middle of next year. But Kerrey noted on Imus&#39; show that the school is in the process of finding a new president and that he would be there until &quot;sometime in the fall.&quot;</p><p>There had been speculation that Kerrey would perhaps be interested in another high profile lobbying position, that of head of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA). But that position <a href="http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2010/07/13/castellani-moves-to-phrma-from-business-roundtable/">was filled today </a>by John Castellani, currently president of the Business Roundtable.</p><p>Kerrey did get a taste of what he was in for when Imus asked him whether his MPAA job would entail commenting on such things as Mel Gibson&#39;s audio rant at his ex girlfriend, which Imus played on his show. &quot;God no. Other than to say I wold hope that I would never have to listen to it again.&quot;</p><p>&quot;It is news. It is a little like LeBron James in that everybody is talking about it,&quot; Kerrey said. &quot;It is disturbing, that is for sure.&quot;</p><p>Kerrey said James&#39; ill-advised ESPN special was a &quot;terrible mistake.&quot;</p><p>&quot;He made five cities mad at him,&quot; Kerrey said. &quot;You have to work really hard to do that.&quot;</p><p></p><p></p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/polanskis-legal-team-renewed-calls-for-investigation.html">
        Polanski's Legal Team: Renewed Calls for Investigation
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Published: Tue, July 13, 2010,  2:35 PM<br>




      
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        <p>A day after Roman Polanski was freedd by Swiss authorities, his U.S. legal team is calling for &quot;an impartial third party&quot; to investigate allegations of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct at the time of his 1977 case.</p>
<p>The statement from the director&#39;s lawyers also was a blistering attack on the current actions of the District Attorney, arguing that they have not fulfilled the role to be the &quot;guardian of systemic integrity&quot; bceause they have not addressed allegations that the judge and prosecutors in Polanski&#39;s initial case engaged in unethical activity.</p>
<p>His attorneys, Chad Hummel, Douglas Dalton&#0160;and Bart Dalton, suggested that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger or Attorney general Jerry Brown appoint a commission to look into the allegations, and then make them public.</p>
<p>The Swiss government cited the refusal of U.S. authorities to provide records of an interview conducted earlier this year with Roger Gunson, a prosecutor on Polanski&#39;s case in 1977. Although it is under seal, Polanski&#39;s attorneys said it would have proven that the director already had served his time and therefore would not be subject to extradition.</p>
<p><font color="#000000" face="Arial" size="2">&quot;As officers of the court, we again urge that a thorough investigation of the facts and circumstances of this case take place now, including into the reasons why the specific request for information made by the Swiss was not honored,&quot; Polanski&#39;s legal team said.</font></p>
<p>They also challenged a State Department officials assertion that the extradition was denied on a &quot;technicality,&quot; saying that the evidence from the Gunson interview was not &quot;insignificant.&quot;</p>
<p>The complete statement is below: </p>
<p><strong><font face="Arial" size="2">
</font></strong></p>
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          Polanski's Legal Team: Renewed Calls for Investigation
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/fcc-gets-a-slapdown.html">
        FCC Gets a Slapdown
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Published: Tue, July 13, 2010,  2:18 PM<br>




      
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        <p>The FCC&#39;s crackdown on indecent content during the Bush years stands be whittled away in the courts. But the risk now is that the Supreme Court will whittle away that authority to pretty much nothing.</p>
<p>Our story on the Second Circuit&#39;s decision is <a href="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118021698.html?categoryid=18&amp;cs=1">here</a>.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/big-media-gripes-at-obama.html">
        Big Media Gripes at Obama
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Published: Mon, July 12, 2010, 11:32 PM<br>




      
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        <p>According to<a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-07-13/media-moguls-skeptical-about-obama-economy/"> the Daily Beast</a>, media moguls at the Sun Valley conference are turning away from President Obama, worried about the deficit and that he&#39;s putting the blame for too much of the nation&#39;s ills on business.</p><p>Peter Chernin, a stalwart Democrat, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-07-13/media-moguls-skeptical-about-obama-economy/">said</a>,&#0160; “I do think the administration will blame business for things too 
quickly. I don’t think they are 
anti-business, it’s more nuanced than that, but they appear that way 
because they jump too quickly on the bandwagon.”</p><p>The Daily Beast&#39;s Peter Lauria adds a caveat: &quot;Despite a 12 percentage point swing in top line growth over the last six
 months—from negative six percent in last year’s fourth quarter to 
positive six percent in the first quarter of this year—none of the 
moguls we spoke with believe the economy is headed for a full recovery. 
Indeed, the administration’s response to the global economic crisis cast
 a pall over what should have been a more upbeat conference than in 
recent years when the credit market collapse, advertising recession, and
 continued disintermediation of their businesses from technology caused 
media company stock prices and deal activity to fall to unprecedented 
lows. Heading into the conference, stock prices were up about a third 
from where they were a year ago, after all. (It&#39;s also worth noting that
 the titans were griping while enjoying an all-expense paid 
retreat—complete with luxury suites, catered meals, free booze, golf and
 white water rafting, and private security detail—easily running Allen 
&amp; Co. a few million dollars.)&quot;</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/the-other-city-the-beltways-legacy-of-indifference.html">
        "The Other City": The Beltway's Legacy of "Indifference"
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Published: Mon, July 12, 2010, 10:17 PM<br>




      
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        <p>Over the weekend I moderated a panel at Los Angeles&#39; Outfest about &quot;The Other City,&quot; a documentary from filmmaker Susan Koch that follows the lives of a handful of D.C residents with HIV/AIDS as they struggle to make ends meet. Koch was intrigued by the idea of a whole other city that exists in the Beltway yet seldom gets any attention, even when the rate of HIV infection is at 3%, or at epidemic proportions.</p>

<p>The project, which recently screened at the Newseum, is especially timely given the release of President Obama&#39;s National AIDS Strategy on Tuesday. Among the panelists was Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who was especially dubious of the White House plan. I am paraphrasing here, but Weinstein said that you have to go back to Ronald Reagan to find an administration more &quot;indifferent&quot; to the AIDS crisis. He noted that it&#39;s taken 15 months for the administration to come up with a strategy, and as Karen Ocamb <a href="http://www.lgbtpov.com/2010/07/white-house-to-unveil-national-aids-strategy-tuesday-%E2%80%93-aids-healthcare-foundation-to-criticize/">points out</a> in LGBT POV, his org is ready to call the plan a &quot;day late and a dollar short.&quot;</p>

<p>&quot;There is no funding, no ‘how to,’ no real leadership,&quot; Weinstein says. Among other things, he points out a lack of administration support for stimulus funds to provide HIV/AIDS medications to some 2,200 Americans on a waiting list for such drugs.</p>

<p>While the movie may call more attention to the crisis within miles of the White House (such officials as Melody Barnes attended the D.C. screening), Weinstein doubts that real action will come unless there is more activism in the streets. And in the meantime, he <a href="http://www.changeaidsobama.org/">has a new ad campaign</a> called &quot;Who&#39;s Better on AIDS?&quot; comparing the progress under Obama and George W. Bush.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, along with other orgs, placed ads in Variety and other publications on Monday calling on ABC and &quot;The View&quot; to apologize for comments made by D.L. Hughley in which he appeared to blame the spread of AIDS in the African-American community on women having sex with bisexual men.</p>

<p>The ad says: &quot;The Centers for Disease Control has publicly disproven this myth. 
And since June 22, thousands of people have written to ABC, asking that &quot;The View&quot;<em></em> provide correct information to viewers. Unfortunately, those requests have been greeted with silence from both 
ABC and &quot;The View<em></em>.&quot; When &#39;The View&#39; <em></em>talks about these 
kinds of issues, people listen. And there&#39;s a responsibility that comes 
with that.&quot;</p>

<p>Here&#39;s the trailer for &quot;The Other City,&quot; which will be rolled out in theaters this fall.</p><center><object height="340" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/L6b6htdGv_U&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="340" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/L6b6htdGv_U&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" /></object></center>

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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/the-politics-of-the-polanski-decision.html">
        The Politics of the Polanski Decision
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Published: Mon, July 12, 2010,  9:41 PM<br>




      
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        <p>Los Angeles prosecutors are furious with the Swiss. The State and Justice departments are bound to put extradition pressure on other countries with extradition treaties. But Roman Polanski is free, and unless he ventures off in some ill-advised travels, he&#39;s likely to remain that way.</p><p>The decision is a blow to District Attorney Steve Cooley, but it is far from the type of decision that will resonate in his race for attorney general. Polanski had charged that he was being used as an example whereby Cooley could garner extra publicity, but in truth, it never really became a factor in the race. Now, with it unlikely that Polanski ever will return to the United States, there will be no high profile proceedings whereby he would be put on trial for fleeing the country. With it also would have been a trial of the system as well, with Polanski&#39;s lawyers presenting evidence of judicial and prosecutorial misconduct. The outcome was far from predictable.</p><p>Instead, Cooley can now blame the Swiss. In the wake of their decision, he has promised to extradite Polanski whenever possible --- a muscular statement even if it is doubtful that such an opportunity ever will come up again.</p><p>Here&#39;s <a href="http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118021650.html?categoryid=3599&amp;cs=1">my story</a> on the latest developments in the Polanski case.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/meg-whitman-movie-producer.html">
        Meg Whitman, Movie Producer
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Published: Mon, July 12, 2010, 12:30 PM<br>




      
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        <p>The New York Times<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/12/us/politics/12whitman.html?_r=1&amp;hpw">breaks the story</a> that Meg Whitman invested $1 million in political consultant Mike Murphy&#39;s production company, in what her primary opponent Steve Poizner&#39;s campaign saw as a way to raid their talent pool.</p>
<p>Whitman&#39;s 2008&#0160;investment appeared on campaign disclosure forms filed earlier this year.</p>
<p>From the Times: &quot;Mr. Murphy has long harbored Hollywood aspirations. He is a member of the Writers Guild of America,&#0160; West, and is represented by an agent at Creative Artists Agency. Mr. Murphy even maintains an office on the Paramount Pictures lot in Hollywood, and recently sold a script to HBO&#0160;for a show on political consultants that is in development but has not yet been greenlighted, HBO says. </p>
<p>&quot;Mr. Murphy’s movie production company, however, clearly remains in its infancy, with no credits to its name. </p>
<p>&quot;Nevertheless, Scott Kaufer, a friend of Mr. Murphy’s who is an executive producer of a new show on TNT, “Memphis Beat,” said he first met Mr. Murphy about three years ago and was so impressed that he invited him to work on a script together. </p>
<p>&quot;“I rank Murphy’s talent and his instinct at the highest rung,” Mr. Kaufer said.&quot;</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/biden-and-boxer-and-tom-rothman-take-on-fiorina.html">
        Biden and Boxer --- and Tom Rothman --- Take on Fiorina
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Published: Fri, July 09, 2010, 10:36 PM<br>




      
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        <p>After trekking to Burbank for an appearance on &quot;The Tonight Show with Jay Leno&quot; on Friday, Vice President Joseph Biden was at the Bel-Air home of Fox Filmed Entertainment co-chairman Tom Rothman and his wife Jessica to once again raise money for Barbara Boxer.</p>

<p>&quot;You&#39;re going to win this,&quot; Biden assured her at the start of his remarks, per a pool report.</p>

<p>What was striking, though, was that a year ago at another Hollywood-centric Boxer fund raiser at the home of Ron Burkle, Biden all but predicted that she&#39;s go up against a well-financed challenger, in this case Carly Fiorina. Since then, he and President Obama have followed that up with several other trips on her behalf.</p>

<p>Speaking of the environment when he and Obama took office, Biden said, “We knew if acted decisively we could lay down the foundation for a new economy, but we knew something else. We knew we needed allies. We knew we needed people with some steel in their spine. ... In moments of great crisis, people know they need change, but they fear it even more.&#0160; There’s such a sense of uncertainty. We knew we had to have people that would put their self interest behind the national interest. And that’s why we knew – not a joke –we had to turn to Barbara in the Senate.”</p>

<p>Biden spoke on a stage before a crowd of about 150 people on the back lawn of the Rothman&#39;s home. Among those who attended the $1,500-per-person event, according to a source, were Danny DeVito and Rhea Perlman, Cameron Crowe, Jon Landau, Marilyn and Alan Bergman, Oliver Stone, Billy Zane and Ari Emanuel. Also present were Reps. Brad Sherman and Adam Schiff and Boxer&#39;s finance chair Sim Farar. The event raised about $200,000 for Boxer&#39;s campaign.</p>

<p>As Boxer faces a challenger from the business world, a portion of Biden&#39;s remarks were directed at dispelling the any notion that she&#39;s less equipped to address jobs.</p>

<p>“Barbara knows that the private sector is the ultimate answer our problems and she’s helping us plant the seeds to allow our best most competitive companies to grow, and grow right here in the Golden State,” he said.</p>

<p>For her part, Boxer was highly critical of Fiorina&#39;s tenure at Hewlett Packard, calling her actions &quot;heartless.&quot;</p>

<p>“Before Carly Fiorina was fired as the CEO of Hewlett Packard, she laid off 30,000 workers—now there are some cities in California that are far smaller than that—she laid off 30,000 American workers, mostly Californians, sent jobs to China and during that period of time she made a fortune for herself,” Boxer said. “When she is asked about this, her response is: ‘I did what any family would do in tough times.’ Well when’s the last time you sent your kid off to China and then, when you did that, cashed in her savings bonds and then took it for yourself? That’s not right.&quot;</p>

<p>“She is running on her record at HP—O.K.?—and that’s why I take the time to mention these things,” Boxer continued. “And for the life of me I don’t understand how that qualifies you for the United States Senate when you were fired.”</p>

<p>She also criticized what she called Fiorina&#39;s &quot;drill, baby, drill&quot; stance on offshore oil drilling, noting how important the California coastline was to tourism, jobs and the economy.</p>

<p>Rothman himself went on the attack in introducing Boxer and Biden, saying that it was a &quot;scary thought&quot; to think of Fiorina in Boxer&#39;s seat on the foreign relations and environment and public works committees.</p>

<p>“I’m sorry to offend my tribe,” he said, “but running a company and making sound legislative policy are not the same tasks and certainly not when the CEO involved has a deficit of common caring and common sense.”</p>

<p>With polls show the race neck and neck, Fiorina may be the strongest challenge to Boxer since she was first elected in 1992. Boxer said Hillary Clinton recently told her: “’You always give us a heart attack every single time you run, well why should this be any different? Just get ready.’ But what’s important is we have a rhythm and we have a pace. And we are ready to do this.&quot;</p><p><strong>Update: </strong>Julie Soderlund, spokeswoman for Fiorina, provides this response: &quot;Barbara Boxer is working overtime to deflect the discussion in this race from her record of failure over the last three decades she’s been in Washington by distorting the facts about Carly’s record of accomplishment in business and proven commonsense leadership style. There is one job that Barbara Boxer is interested in saving: her own. The fact is that Carly Fiorina is the only candidate in this race who has actually created a job, met a payroll or had to make the difficult choices that come along with managing a technology company through the dot com bust.&#0160; Barbara Boxer on the other hand has failed the people of California; our unemployment rate has skyrocketed to over 12 percent since she promised 400,000 more jobs to the state.&quot;&#0160; </p><p>Here&#39;s a clip from Biden&#39;s &quot;Tonight&quot; appearance.</p><center><object align="middle" height="283" width="384"><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="movie" value="http://widget.nbc.com/videos/nbcshort_at.swf?CXNID=1000004.10045NXC&amp;widID=4727a250e66f9723&amp;clipID=1238106&amp;showID=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#000000" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><embed align="middle" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" bgcolor="#000000" height="283" quality="high" src="http://widget.nbc.com/videos/nbcshort_at.swf?CXNID=1000004.10045NXC&amp;widID=4727a250e66f9723&amp;clipID=1238106&amp;showID=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="384" /></object></center>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/false-alarm.html">
        False Alarm
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Published: Thu, July 08, 2010, 11:09 PM<br>




      
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        <p>Earlier this evening, there was speculation that Judge Vaughn Walker would issue his decision on Prop 8, sending the <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/07/california-gay-marraige-prop8.html">media and others to the San Francisco courthouse.</a> But the rumored 6 p.m. time of decision came and went.</p><p>It would have been auspicious timing, but not because it would have overlapped with LeBron James seconds-turned-into-hour announcement that he&#39;s going to Miami, but because another decision was rendered in a federal court in Massachusetts overturning a key part of the Defense of Marriage Act. </p><p>That portion limited the definition of marriage to a man and a woman for 
purposes of federal laws, was unconstitutional. At stake are more than 
1,000 federal marriage-based benefits that are given to heterosexual 
couples but not same-sex couples.</p>
<p>“In the wake of DOMA, it is only sexual orientation that 
differentiates a married couple entitled to federal marriage-based 
benefits from one not so entitled,” U.S. District Judge Joseph Tauro 
wrote in one of two decisions he rendered on suits challenging the federal ban. “And this court can conceive of no way in which such a difference
 might be relevant to the provision of the benefits at issue.”&#0160; </p><p>His decision faces an uncertain future as it heads to the higher courts. But the decision puts the Obama administration in the position of appealing in an effort to uphold a law he opposes.&#0160;</p><p>Chad Griffin of the American Foundation for Equal Rights, which is seeking to overturn Prop 8, citing the constitution&#39;s equal protection clause, noted that the judge cited a similar rationale in overturning DOMA.</p><p>Griffin said, &quot;The Defense of Marriage Act clearly violates the U.S. Constitution’s 
guarantee of equal protection under the law. Creating separate classes 
of people to deny them federal benefits, like DOMA does, is 
discrimination and it is wrong.&quot; <strong><br /></strong></p><p><strong>Update: </strong>I confess not to know the legal implications, but there is a contrast in the way that the government has defended DOMA and Proposition 8 in the respective trials. It&#39;s simple: Re: DOMA, the Obama administration has defended the federal ban on same-sex marriage and is expected to appeal the ruling; re: Proposition 8, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown have essentially stepped aside and instead have left the defense to Protect Marriage, the group that fought for the proposition in the first place. If the Obama administration were to step away from the DOMA case, couldn&#39;t traditional marriage groups step in as intervenors just as they have done in the Prop 8 trial?</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/yes-this-is-real.html">
        Yes, This is Real
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Published: Thu, July 08, 2010, 10:51 PM<br>




      
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        This is a web video for Florida State Rep. Mike Weinstein. It&#39;s got shades of &quot;<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5FvyGydc8no">Hillary for You and Me</a>.&quot;<center><object height="340" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/byn8ZD6kckg&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="340" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/byn8ZD6kckg&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" /></object></center>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/the-next-comcastnbc-u-hearing-fewer-fireworks.html">
        The Next Comcast/NBC U Hearing: Fewer Fireworks?
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        <p>On Thursday comes another congressional field hearing on the proposed joint venture between Comcast and NBC Universal, this time in Chicago, but the atmosphere could be far different from a similar event last month in Los Angeles.</p>
<p>That is when Stanley Washington of the National Coalition of African American Owned Media, among those invited to testify, said that African Americans were no longer &quot;interested in living on the Comcast plantation.&quot; Added to that was the presence of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), a critic of NBC&#39;s progress on diversity.</p>
<p>This time around, Washington has not been invited, and Waters is not on the subcommittee holding the hearing, Communications, Technology &amp; the Internet. It will be chaired by Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.). Public interest groups opposed to the merger have been quick to point out that Rush has been an opponent of net neutrality, which <a href="http://news.cnet.com/Tech-manufacturers-rally-against-Net-neutrality/2100-1028_3-6117241.html">he once called</a>&#0160;a &quot;solution in search of a problem,&quot; in line with Comcast&#39;s position.</p>
<p>On the bill to testify are Samuel DeSimone, general counsel of EarthLink Inc.; Shirley Franklin, executive senior adviser for Alliance for Digital Equality, a group that has opposed FCC chairman Julius Genachowski&#39;s latest efforts to impose net neutrality rules; Will Griffin, president and CEO of Hip Hop on Demand, who spoke in favor of the joint venture at last month&#39;s hearing; the Rev. Jesse Jackson; Paula Madison, exec VP and chief diversity officer of NBC Universal; and Joseph W. Waz, senior VP of external affairs and public policy counsel of Comcast, who <a href="http://blog.comcast.com/2010/07/who-benefits-from-the-comcast-nbcu-joint-venture.html">posted a blog</a> about their plans for the hearing.</p>
<p>Recently Comcast <a href="http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/97558714.html">reached agreement</a> with some Hispanic groups by committing to a number of diversity goals including the appointment of&#0160;a Latino to its board of directors within 24&#0160;months of the deal closing.</p>
<p>Comcast also is sounding alarms over the National Coalition of African American Owned Media. Last week, Congress Daily <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/congressdaily/tca_20100701_9856.php?mrefid=site_search">looked into allegations</a>that the org is really an astroturf org with connections to potential rivals. It is represented by the Washington law firm of Patton Boggs, which also represents Bloomberg LP, which is opposed to the merger and is a competitor to CNBC, as well as a firm repping rural telecom providers. One of Patton Boggs&#39; attorneys, former FCC chairman Kevin Martin, is on the board of the coalition, something that a Comcast rep&#0160;tells Congress Daily is&#0160;&quot;ironic.&quot; Patton Boggs and Washington insist their orgs are independent of Patton Boggs&#39; other clients.</p>
<p>The FCC --- which along with the Department of Justice must give the joint venture the green light --- will conduct its own field hearing next week in Chicago. </p>
<p>Update: Waters is not on the subcommittee, but <a href="http://techdailydose.nationaljournal.com/2010/07/boucher-other-lawmakers-to-att.php">was invited to attend</a>.</p>
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      <h1 class="entry-header"> <span class="title"><a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/07/al-franken-one-year-later.html">
        Al Franken, One Year Later
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Published: Tue, July 06, 2010,  5:46 PM<br>




      
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        <p>Wednesday is the one-year anniversary of Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.), whose longshot bid in 2008 made for that year&#39;s most expensive and most hard-fought of all Senate races.</p>
<p>By virtue of toning it down, shunning most national media interviews and largely keeping a relatively low profile (although not so low as to pass up a chance to grill Jeff Zucker at a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on the Comcast-NBC Universal merger), Franken is perhaps slightly less polarizing in Minnesota than he was when he first came to office. He knows that were he to make regular appearances on Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann, it&#39;d probably help more than hurt given that as a freshman he has to prove that he&#39;s singularly focused on representing the Land of 10,000 Lakes and not milking his star status. He <a href="http://www.newsweekinteractive.com/2010/07/05/al-franken-gets-serious.html?from=rss">also has won some bipartisan support,</a>including an amendment in the financial reform bill, and also landed a significant provision in healthcare reform. He&#39;s <a href="http://www.wilshireandwashington.com/2010/04/al-frankens-snl-reunion.html">already raising money</a> for his 2014 reelection, as he&#39;s probably going to face a serious challenger. </p>
<p>Two new books are coming this fall that will dissect the Senate race. Zenith Press is publishing &quot;A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Senate: Franken vs. Coleman and the Decline and Fall of Civilized Politics,&quot; by political scientist Wy Spano. His book promises to show how the race has &quot;aftershocks bound to linger for the foreseeable future, including during the midterm elections of 2010 and the 2012 reelection bid of Barack Obama.&quot; Meanwhile,&#0160;Univeristy of Minnesota Press <a href="http://thepage.time.com/fall-political-book-releases-2010/">will publish</a>Jay Weiner&#39;s This is Not Florida: How Al Franken Won the Minnesota Senate Recount.&quot; 
<p>What hasn&#39;t happened, however, is a flood of entertainers and pundits entering the political arena, emboldened by Franken&#39;s success, despite predictions and various flirtations with the idea. The two tomes will show how unlikely it was that Franken got elected (by 312) votes, and undoubtedly will reinforce the point: Don&#39;t quit your regular gig.</p>
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