Pitt, Aniston to solve Palestinian problem in two years

[Undertoad]

http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Oct/10262...n_w/105503.asp

JERUSALEM -- After honing his skills as a vampire, international spy and the Grim Reaper, sex symbol Brad Pitt is joining a cadre of other Hollywood stars to tackle a project that no one has ever pulled off: making peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Their goal is to promote a peace plan dreamed up by average Israelis and Palestinians in an unofficial referendum planned for early next year, the initiative's local organizers say.
...
Pitt's wife, "Friends" star Jennifer Aniston, grouchy fireplug Danny De Vito and his wife, "Cheers" waitress Rhea Perlman, and "Seinfeld" sidekick Jason Alexander are among the celebrities promoting the initiative, which is to be completed within two years.
The actors serve on the board of an organization called OneVoice that was established with private and corporate donations following the failed Camp David Israeli-Palestinian negotiations in 2000.
Regional academics and analysts will use feedback from public focus groups to craft the wording of 20 topics. Israelis and Palestinians will then be asked to vote on those issues via computer and telephone starting in January, Darawshe said. The referendum will be carried door-to-door in technologically isolated Israeli and Palestinian areas.
People will be asked to consider so far unsolvable problems such as the fate of Palestinian refugees, sovereignty over Jeru- salem and the control of borders and water supplies.

Celebrities... is there anything they can't do?

[wolf]

Maybe Brad Pitt and Jason Alexander will get run over by a bulldozer?

(I can hope.)

[Beestie]

Pitt, Aniston to solve Palestinian problem in two years

Well, thank freakin' God.

[tw]

Originally posted by wolf
Maybe Brad Pitt and Jason Alexander will get run over by a bulldozer?

Is that not what already happened to George Jr's mythical "Roadmap"? Ah, but how does one run a bulldozer over fiction.

Did I happen to mention who the Norwegian foreign minister predicted would destroy the Oslo Accords? Little hint. It was not Brad Pitt nor Jason Alexander.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Well, since it's so screwed up now, I suppose they can't do any harm. If they annoy the jews too much though, they might find themselves out of Showbiz.

aside. TW, I got a letter from VP Cheney the other day. He offered me a chance ($1000 recomended) to "Secure a position as a founder of the Grassroots for Bush/Cheney '04 Movement in your community" Want me to save it for you?

[elSicomoro]

Shit, it's not like anyone has gotten it done...what the hell can it hurt?

[tw]

Originally posted by xoxoxoBruce
TW, I got a letter from VP Cheney the other day. He offered me a chance ($1000 recomended) to "Secure a position as a founder of the Grassroots for Bush/Cheney '04 Movement in your community" Want me to save it for you

Let's see. Davis Besse had to shutdown for a potential 3 Mile Island type problem. So instead, FirstEnergy (the company that created the blackout) donated $450,000 to Bush Cheney and kept the reactor running. When they finally did shut it down for refueling, they found that all 6 feet of carbon steel was gone. So they ran another fund raiser for Bush Cheney - just before they created the blackout..

The Economist magainze recently noted that virutally all big accounting firms (the big five now called the big four) are guility of widespread Arthur Andersen tactics. KPMG literally cooked the books for Xerox so that Xerox would not have to declare bankruptcy (after the president of Xerox personally called the president of KPMG). So where are all the fines and enforcement against any of these companies for fraud? They are all contributing record amounts of cash to the Bush Cheney campaign buckets.

So large are these corporate contributions that every week for months now, the Bush Cheney campign fund has set world records exceeding any previous campaign bribe fund ever. Will my paultry $10,000 check do anything for me? I would just be a piss in their bucket.

Being corrupt AND being the enemy of humanity - see the Cancun talks and the upcoming Western Hemisphere free trade talks as example - is quite profitable. Even Al Capone did not have a racket as big as Bush Cheney. Because Al Capone did not have the FBI director, the Attorney General, the NRC and the SEC on his payroll. Yes there is much tit for tat in Bush Cheney like America has never seen before. Even the crook Nixon was not that brash.

[Undertoad]

But since your contribution would include your employer's name, by FEC rule - your employer would be listed as having given whatever you gave. That's how it works. The companies don't give; their employees do.

If it's an ethical company, there's no pressure or even any company culture that demands that the employees give.

[tw]

Originally posted by Undertoad
If it's an ethical company, there's no pressure or even any company culture that demands that the employees give.

There is no law that requires ethics. However there is law enforcement that prosecute non-Bush Cheney contributors quickly (Sam Waksal and most of his family) but refuses to prosecute those who steal $billions - Enron, Aurthur Andersen, Global Crossing, Xerox, etc. When is even one energy trading company among the five that conspired to create the CA energy crisis going to be prosecuted. Will not happen. Harvey Wills(?) (former head of the SEC) did his dirty work for the president. This way the company does not have to be ethical - because it is legal to 'enourage' employees to contiribute.

Two friends with large salaries on separate occasions detailed the 'blackmail' to contribute to someone they would never vote for - since after all, the company gets a list of how much they contributed. It is all legal. And since it is for Bush Cheny, ethics is but a joke.

This adminsitration willnot even let the 9/11 Commission have information on what the administration knew. Why do they again fear the truth - like Nixon - another champion of ethics.

[jaguar]

It's all fun and games till someone gets shredded by a roadside bomb or roasted by a hellfire missile.

[Sun_Sparkz]

Good on them i say! if they have all the money and time in the world then i commend them for trying to spend it on something that is such a posotive effort. I mean, think about it, they could just spend the rest of their lives on their cruisers and in their mansions not giving a stuff about the rest of the world, but these guys are actually trying to make a difference.

i do think though, they could choose a more realistic goal other than this beast of an effort - - like maybe saving kittens from trees or group readings at old ppl's homes

[wolf]

Welcome, Sun_Sparkz ... (I have a sneaking suspicion you might just fit in here).

[Sun_Sparkz]

Thankyou Wolf

[Uryoces]

Hmm. 2005?

2005
+7 years (of pease for Israel - biblical)
=2012 (end of the Mayan calendar!)

=

No more drinky for me!

[richlevy]

Originally posted by Undertoad

Celebrities... is there anything they can't do?

Well, considering that the most of the successful celebrity politicians that I know of have been Republicans (Reagan, Schwarzeneggar, Bono, Grandy (Gopher), Fred Thompson), I'd be happy to declare a moratorium.

Personally, if someone can get the public to pay more attention to an issue, I'm all for it. I will agree, however, that using entertainment events to express political opinions is in poor taste. This was pointed out by Laura Ingraham in her book. My only criticism of people who criticize celebreties in politics is how they fail to apply the same standard to people when they agree with their opinions.

My personal favorite was some female conservative who criticized Michael Moore's populist credentials because he was upper-middle-class and went to a private school.

Now, I considering that our current president is passing himself off as a populist, was born to an influential, wealthy family, went to an Ivy League school, and joined a ****ing secret society, you think that any conservative would flinch at bringing money and wealth in to discredit 'populist' celebrities.

There is so much partisan sniping and lack of self examination today towards political celebrities, that I just let most of it pass me by and judge on the merits of the arguments themselves.

I will be happy to let people like Laura Ingraham and Ann Coulter ignore or gush over Charlton Heston and Schwarzenegger, and demonize Martin Sheen and Janeane Garofalo (just guessing about these examples). The point is that we are now in a phase where the double standard is now as solid as a concrete divider on the expressway. Very few of the comments I have seen of celebrities in politics come from people who agree with their politics.

I actually have seen some honest criticism of Bush in the conservative media. There are some gaps in logic from the White House which cannot be ignored. But the over-the-top harpyism I am seeing from the right in mainstream venues is worse than anything I have ever seen from either wing of politics.

I am able to agree with Ms. Ingraham on the very limited statement that it is improper for a celebrity at a public non-charitable and non-political event at which they perform to make political statements to the audience, whether or not I agree with them. Beyond that, the bitch probably needs to re-read the first amendment.