There is real outrage here in Oregon regarding the decision by Fred Stickel, publisher of the Oregonian, to willfully distribute the inflammatory and graphic DVD "Obsession" - even after Portland Mayor Tom Potter personally requested that Stickel pull it from the Sunday Oregonian.
Stickel is a scumbag. He's trying to claim there's a free speech issue for this "advertising", even though the Obsession DVD expressly violates the Oregonian's published advertising rules: "Ads must not include any discriminatory statement or image." Also - there is of course no state action, and hate speech is NOT protected under the Constitution. Did I say that Stickel is a scumbag? He is.
Back to Freiss.
Who is Foster Freiss? Google provides the answer quickly enough: www.fosterfriess.com.
From his egomaniac, messianic, self-aggrandizing website:
Demanding the fledgling Iraqi government to subdue the Sunni/Shia violence is similar to backing the New Hampshire University football team against the NFL’s New York Jets and then at half time when they are down 42-0, going into the locker room to tell the New Hampshire lads they better start winning in the second half----and by the way we are going to take away your helmets and shoulder pads in the second half. Please forward this report to your entire email list and ask each of your contacts to inquire of their congressman whether or not they have viewed the documentary, Obsession, obtainable at www.obsessionthemovie.com. It will put into context my observations. CNN’s Glenn Beck deems it a movie every American should view. Please report back to me if your Representative/Senator has viewed it. It’s important.
God Bless, (:>) Foster
Oh yeah - God bless. He is just overflowing with the milk of human kindness. Barf.
Friess clearly views himself as a crusader. And talk about Obsession - I think we can all see who is really obsessed, and with what.
More from the Freiss website:
Obsession the Movie
Obsession - Radical Islam's War Against the West is a new film that will challenge the way you look at the world. Using images from Arab TV, rarely seen in the West, Obsession reveals an ‘insider's view' of the hatred the Radicals are teaching, their incitement of global jihad, and their goal of world domination. With the help of experts, including first-hand accounts from a former PLO terrorist, a Nazi youth commander, and the daughter of a martyred guerilla leader, the film shows, clearly, that the threat is real.
www.obsessionthemovie.com
Predictably, Freiss slams Obama:
Can we trust Obama to do a better job with the economy than the last two Democratic presidents?
This lack of trust may be well deserved. The “sub-prime” melt down can be traced to three major events – all caused by the Democrats playing politics. While Barack Obama was not around for the first two, he was elbows deep in the most recent turning point and, despite his limited time in the Senate, he was second largest recipient of campaign cash from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Republican talking points! I am shocked, shocked to find Republican talking points being spewed on this offensive website!
Cheney and Freiss - they do in fact appear to be BFFs:
A small cadre of protesters caught the attention of Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday outside a GOP fund-raiser at Tucker Ranch.
As Cheney's motorcade left the cocktail party and proceeded toward Highway 390, he was greeted by residents holding signs accusing him of lying about the war in Iraq and practicing "politics of hate."
...
About an hour before the vice president emerged from the gathering, a man in a white rental car, apparently headed to the party, rolled down his window and shouted, "F*** off!" The outburst drew laughs from the handful of people carrying signs.
"Maybe he's a speech writer for Cheney," joked Jim Laybourn of Jackson, referring to the vice president's recent less-than-polite remark to Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., on the Senate floor.
Jan Larimer, who chaired the fund-raiser with help from Jackson investment manager Foster Friess, said the event drew about 150 people and was an "incredible" success. Attendees came from all over the country to support Santorum, the conservative senator known for his crusade to ban gay marriage.
And is this supposed to be a joke?
Combat the negativity in our culture with uplifting, inspiring stories...
Does the "negativity in our culture" include the Obsession DVD you advocate, complete with graphic images of dead bodies?!!!
Rick Santorum has even contributed some hysterical screed to the Foster Friess website:
The gathering storm: Islamic Fascism
by Senator Rick Santorum
This summer I gave two speeches that defined the unique challenges that confront the United States as we conduct a new world war. I gave those speeches-one in Washington at the National Press Club, and one here in Pennsylvania at the Pennsylvania Press Club-because I believe that now more than ever we need to study the past, learn from events, and take proactive measures to protect our freedoms at home and provide a safer world in which to exercise those freedoms.
I am here again today talking about this issue because Islamic Fascism continues to rear its ugly head. And because it is being joined by others, becoming a hydra.
The war is at our doorsteps, and it is fueled, figuratively and literally, by Islamic fascism, nurtured and bred in Iran.
Islamic terrorists planned a mass kidnapping at the Central Synagogue in Prague just a few weeks ago. They intended to carry it out on Rosh Hashanah, when large numbers of Jews would be celebrating the New Year. Once the world's attention was focused on Prague, they intended to make impossible demands, and then blow up the synagogue and all within.
Those people were not marked for death because they supported the war in Iraq, or supported George W. Bush, or sent troops to Afghanistan. They were targeted because they were guilty of being Jews. This is evil.
Islamic terrorists organized an assault on civilian aircraft leaving London, planning to blow up many planes over the North Atlantic. Two of the participants, a husband and wife, intended to take their six-month old baby on a plane with them, and blow him up along with everyone else on board. This is evil.
Islamic terrorists slaughter innocent Iraqi citizens every day. A man in Baghdad recently called his daughter in America to say that "once upon a time, garbage trucks went through the streets to collect refuse. Now they collect beheaded bodies." Our enemies celebrate these massacres. They use videos of beheadings to recruit new members to their ranks. In recent days, they beheaded an Orthodox priest and crucified a teen-age boy, both guilty of Christianity. This is evil.
Yes, Rick - I think we clearly see who the evil ones are here.
We've seen this tactic used frequently enough in history to know exactly what they are trying to do. And what their motivations are. They are transparent.
To save you from having to watch the Obsession DVD:
I watched the video (I'm avoiding "film") tonight. Some takeaways:
- I sorta wish I had my ninety minutes back. (I didn't time it, but thereabouts methinks.) I don't recommend it. The film is basically footage from some interviews along with selected footage from radicals pledging Jihad, including scraping the bottom of the barrell to include anti-Westerner internet rap video as well as a clip of Michael Moore.
- I essentially learned nothing new. I was hoping to. There was almost no data whatever. The one clip that resembled data was one interviewee's "estimate" that "10-15% of Muslims" support radical Islamic terrorism. I think that's the same scientific rigor that gave us old estimates of the size of the lgbt population. Learning about radical Islam, and mainstream Islam (the much bigger cohort) -- including efforts to deal with the first and work with the second -- is of big import in the modern world. Unfortunately, this video teaches almost nothing.
- It did seem terribly blatant that the primary purpose -- even a stated purpose -- was to incite fear and a sense of imminent danger in the viewer. Even the music was from a B-grade horror movie. If I were still 13, I would have wanted to pack a rifle and go wage an anti-jihad (I think we used to call those Crusades).
- Among the most spicy footage were numerous video clips of terrorist leaders pledging Jihad and destruction to kafur/infidels. Sending out this video seems to me like an extreme version to what I did as a youth basketball coach when I'd tell the team what the other team had planned/said/felt/trashtalked. The tactic wouldn't teach any ball, but it would get the team stirred up. This dvd is like a pornographic version of a coach posting on the bulletin board a nasty and taunting newspaper quote from a loudmouth from the opposing team; the purpose is to get the reader/viewer all ginned up.
- A tenet of the video's basic argument is the link to Nazi Germany. The film's implicit argument is "we need to destroy this evil now, the way Chamberlain should have earlier in Hitler's career." The modern analogue is strained; the terrorist movement is not limited to one country, there is no single leader, and I see no signs of Neville Chamberlain appeasement. The basic counter-argument, and the fundamental challenge, is that WWI-WWII era strategy (take territory, destroy the enemy military, eliminate the leadership) won't as readily solve the modern threat.
- One choice quote from the video (I re-wound to get it right), the irony of which was apparently lost on the video-maker/distributor: "If you want to get people to fight, you have to make them think there is a threat and that they are in danger." Truer words.
(Forgive the length of this post, but it might save you 86-or-so minutes.)
And someone help me out here. I hate to do it - but watch this creepy youtube video of Freiss talking about the Obsession DVD - and pay attention to the last 10 seconds (and while you are at youtube, Flag it as offensive):
Transcript of end of video:
Use this as your voting guide when you go into the voting booth election day.
So now we have "someone" spending how many millions of dollars to produce and circulate millions of these DVDs - with the purpose of influencing you to vote for certain candidates? Election law experts, help me out here. Does the person who paid for these DVDs -- whoever that may be --- therefore have to report the cost of these DVDs as a contribution in kind?
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UPDATE: Much, much more on the Election Law and financing aspect here.
The Clarion Fund is a non-profit group created “to educate Americans about issues of national security,” according to its Web site. The staff and organizational information of the group is not listed on the Web site, nor is there source of funding. Gregory Ross, who identifies himself as the communications director for Clarion Fund, stated in a recent interview, “the film was financed by a concerned citizen who has a long-standing relationship with our organization. The cost was under $500,000 and it took over a year to complete.” Ross also said that, “the U.S. Department of the Navy uses the film and that it has also been shown on Capitol Hill on many occasions in order to education politicians.”
In yet another report, Ross claims that the movie was not intended to sway voters to one candidate over the other, and that its focus on a swing state was an effort to get the attention of reporters in swing states...
And here:
The federal tax code allows limited participation in the political process by nonprofits, those designated 501(c)(3) groups, but they can't endorse a candidate if they want to keep their tax-exempt status.
A spokesman with the New York City-based Clarion Fund -- which this month distributed through newspapers and the mail 28 million copies of its 2005 documentary about "radical Islam" -- acknowledged it might have crossed the line with some postings on its Web site.
Clarion Fund has removed from its site articles that could be considered an endorsement for Republican presidential candidate John McCain, spokesman Gregory Ross said, to ensure the fund doesn't violate its tax-exempt status.
...
WHAT CAN THEY DO?
Here's an example of what nonprofits, designated 501(c)(3) groups, can do politically:
Publish in church bulletins or newspapers voting records of public office holders and indicate the church's views and whether the incumbent supported or opposed the church's view.
Give candidates lists of church members for use in seeking support or raising money as long as other candidates have access to that list.
Publish an ad for a political candidate, as long as the ad is purchased at the regular rate. Discounts must be extended to any other political advertiser.
Publish nonpartisan news stories about candidates, campaigns and endorsements of political candidates by political or advocacy groups, plus information on public issues of interest and statements attributed to political candidates.
They cannot:
Publish an editorial supporting or endorsing a candidate for political office.
Publish views of an individual's overall qualifications for public office, make no endorsement, whether implied or not, and make no comparison with other candidates.
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