OC Blog

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Disney Mickeying Around With Distribution of Path to 9/11?

Earlier today, I spoke with Cyrus Nowrasteh, writer and producer of last year’s network television miniseries, The Path to 9/11, about the controversy surrounding the film’s DVD (non)release.

As you may recall, Mr. Nowrasteh was at the center of the political firestorm created when Bill Clinton, Sandy Berger, and others took issue with the film’s portrayal of their handling of Osama bin Laden in the mid-1990s.

In the days leading up to the film’s premier, leading Democrats called on Disney to either pull the film or edit it in a manner that cast a favorable light on the efforts of the Clinton administration. In a letter to Disney chief Robert Iger, five senators (including Red County favorites Charles Schumer and Harry Reid) cited the Communications Act of 1934 that grants ABC with a free broadcast license “predicated on the fundamental understanding to act as a trustee of the public airwaves in serving the public interest.”

Clearly the letter was a thinly veiled threat to pull ABC’s broadcast license if the network did not accommodate the former administration’s efforts to censor the project. Disney brass not only buckled to the demands of Clinton’s surrogates, but appears to have permanently sidelined the film’s distribution.

Cyrus Nowrasteh is an award winning writer, director, and producer. In addition to Path to 9/11, his credits include Into the West, La Femme Nikita, and The Day Reagan was Shot. Mr. Nowrasteh was also a speaker at this year’s OC Liberty Film Festival where he discussed the pressures that were brought to bear by powerful political allies of the previous administration, the death threats made on him and his family, and the challenges of making a film in a highly charged political environment.

Mr. Nowrasteh is adamant that his film offers a fair and accurate account of the events that led to the attacks on 9/11. Cyrus explains, “This was a very balanced miniseries. We cover 8 ½ years and unfortunately for [my critics] many of those years were during the Clinton administration. We had the ’93 attack [on the World Trade Center], the two attacks on the embassies, Kobar Towers, the USS Cole… so we deal with what happened and that obviously made members of the Clinton administration, Sandy Berger, Madeleine Albright, the ex-President himself upset. So they launched a coordinated, concerted campaign to discredit the movie and me.”

When contemplating the future of The Path to 9/11, Nowrasteh is cautiously optimistic and is considering a variety of alternatives for getting the DVD into the hands of a curious public.

Catch Nowrasteh on Hugh Hewitt’s radio program this afternoon on KRLA 870 at 5:00 p.m. and on the O’Reilly Factor on Fox News at 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. PST.

Further reading: Full text of today’s Los Angeles Times article by Martin Miller here.

Stay tuned for updates…

Just Wondering

I am sure most folks know that the GOP Presidential primary is now by congressional district rather than by state-wide vote.  So a candidate can win delegates in various CD's even if he doesn't win the entire state vote.  The Republican Party's move was designed to draw more candidates, and interest, to the state.  That, along with the earlier primary, seems to be working.  It will be a lot tougher for someone to 'win' California--meaning a clean sweep of all delegates--and much easier for candidates polling in second and third place to win delegates.

That said, it seems like the California MSM is still giving us only state-wide polling information on the candidates.  This is akin to the polling on presidential races being done nationally, rather than by state.  Basically, it is somewhat interesting for picking up trends, but pretty much useless for determining who the winner will be.  For that, you have to look at the electoral college impact of the polling--which must be done by state.  Similarly, here, it seems, the polling must be done by CD in order to give us a true picture of how candidates are doing in California.  This will be a boon, I imagine, for pollsters--but is it being done yet?  I haven't heard.

I'm wondering what people think is actually happening in various regions in the state, especially Orange County.  Giuliani is up in state wide polling, but who else would you say gets delegates from the Golden State?  And where will they come from?  How do you see the CD's in the OC breaking?  Does anyone want to make any specific CD predictions at this point? 

Just a few Friday questions for you.

Religion, Demographics and Red & Blue America

This isn't an OC-specific topic, although it applies here as much as anywhere. I read an intriguing opinion article entitled "Our Religious Destiny" in today's Wall Street Journal on a topic I've been familiar with for some time, and wanted to share at least an excerpt with readers as food for thought and discussion:

If you picked 100 adults out of the population who attended their house of worship nearly every week or more often, they would have 223 children among them, on average, according to the 2006 General Social Survey. Among 100 people who attended less than once per year or never, you would find just 158 kids. This 41% fertility gap between religious and secular people is especially meaningful because people tend to worship more or less like their parents. According to data collected in 1999 by Gallup, 60% of adults who were taken to church at least once per month as children grew up to attend at least this often; only 15% stopped attending as adults.

Rep. John Campbell One Of Few In Fight Against Earmarks

H/T to the FlashReport for pointing me to the this Bob Novak column about the frustrating eforts of House GOP reformers like Rep. John Campbell to rein in earmarks. It looks like too many GOP House members are still behaving as if the November elections didn't happen, and the new Democratic majority (with some exceptions) was all talk when it comes to earmarks.

Campbell's efforts in the House are basically a continuation of his focus on the Assembly and state Senate: reducing government spending and reining in the size and scope of government. He's smart and articulate and unafraid to make waves, which makes him well suited to the task.

Here are some more links to Rep. Campbell in action and in words on the subject -- here, here and here -- courtesy of the FlashReport.

"A War We Just Might Win"

A friend e-mailed this to me. It's an op-ed in today's New York Times by two defense scholars who have been critical of the Bush Administration's conduct of the Iraq War. It's not an OC-specific issue, but after yet another anti-war editorial today from the defeatists at the OC Register, I wanted to submit this for our readers' consideration. I hope the weak sisters and defeatists in the Congress who seem poised to press the bug-out button will also read it and perhaps re-consider their haste to run for the exit in a panicked rush.

A War We Just Might Win
By MICHAEL E. O’HANLON and KENNETH M. POLLACK

VIEWED from Iraq, where we just spent eight days meeting with American and Iraqi military and civilian personnel, the political debate in Washington is surreal. The Bush administration has over four years lost essentially all credibility. Yet now the administration’s critics, in part as a result, seem unaware of the significant changes taking place.

House Democrats Find A Government Agency They Want To Cut

Who says Democrats only want to expand the size of government? According to this item from today's Political Diary (the best deal around for political junkies at just $3.95 a month), Congressional Democrats have found one government agency their interested in reducing (pardon the departure from OC politics):

Fox Meets Henhouse
Democrats brought the bill appropriating money for the Labor Department to the House floor Tuesday night and promptly ran into an embarrassing amendment. It seems every Labor Department enforcement agency is due for a large budget increase, save for the one small $47 million agency that oversees union anti-corruption efforts and collects reports from unions on how they spend their members' dues money.