Anti-DeLay film hits close to home (The Hill)

[Up2Late]

(Opening May 5 at the Angelica Theater in Houston!)
March 8, 2006

Anti-DeLay film hits close to home

By Roxana Tiron

A documentary following the criminal investigation that led to the indictment of former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) will open May 5 at the Angelica Theater in Houston, according to the film's distributor. DeLay's district includes suburban Houston, and the Angelica Theater is downtown.

After the opening, the documentary will be released in DVD form and be distributed in video stores and on a website, . Part of the release plan is to organize thousands of viewing parties in private homes and churches in Texas and across the country instead of a movie-theater release, said the film's distributor, Robert Greenwald of Brave New Productions.

DeLay faced a primary challenge yesterday, and Democrats have been gearing up for a run at his district in the fall.

Filmmakers Mark Birnbaum and Jim Schermbeck, who self-financed their three-year project, initially planned to follow DeLay around and document his rise. But the pair did not receive any access and shortly after the campaign-fundraising and redistricting scandal started to grow, Democratic Travis County District Attorney Ronnie Earle granted the filmmakers access to his office.

(more at link below)

<http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/030806/delay.html>

[Harper_is_Bush]

1. Watch the trailer! Wow, that's well done. What a burn....

[Up2Late]

3. Wow, that picture is huge!

Got anything smaller?

[Harper_is_Bush]

4. Try this one:

[truthisfreedom]

16. hey! that's a cuban cigar! look here! contraband! he's a commie pinko

fidel supporter! this is the complete label for that type of cigar. he's smoking contraband.



there is a Honduran version of this cigar also, but it has a black label with a completely different look.

[truthisfreedom]

17. ahh, i found the Time article about that cigar...

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1054968,00.html?cnn=yes

But Did He Inhale?
Anti-Castro Majority Leader Tom DeLay enjoys a fine Cuban cigar
By KAREN TUMULTY
Posted Wednesday, Apr. 27, 2005
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. And sometimes, according to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a cigar is an economic prop to a brutal totalitarian regime. Arguing against loosening sanctions against Cuba last year, DeLay warned that Fidel Castro "will take the money. Every dime that finds its way into Cuba first finds its way into Fidel Castro's blood-thirsty hands.... American consumers will get their fine cigars and their cheap sugar, but at the cost of our national honor."

DeLay has long been one of Congress' most vocal critics of what he calls Castro's "thugocracy," which is why some sharp-eyed TIME readers were surprised last week to see a photo of the Majority Leader smoking one of Cuba's best—a Hoyo de Monterrey double corona, which generally costs about $25 when purchased overseas and is not available in this country. The cigar's label clearly states that it was made in "Habana." The photo was taken in Jerusalem on July 28, 2003, during a meeting between DeLay and the Republican Jewish Coalition at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem.

<snip>

DeLay's smoke may have run afoul of his principles, but it did not violate U.S. regulations at the time. However, it would now. Last September, the Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control tightened its prohibitions against U.S. citizens importing or consuming Cuban cigars. Even Americans licensed to bring back up to $100 worth of Cuban goods are no longer allowed to include tobacco products in what they carry. The regulation also noted that Americans are barred not only from purchasing Cuban goods in foreign countries, but also from consuming them in those countries.

Asked about the Majority Leader's consumption of a Cuban cigar, his spokesman Dan Allen replied there has been "no change in our Cuban policy."

[njdemocrat106]

18. "The cost of our national honor"?

If anything, it's DeLay and scumbags like him that have costed us our national honor and our international prestige.

Can't wait to see you behind bars, Tom!

[YashuaZulu]

2. After Viewing The Trailer...

I felt for DeLay so I would like to invite the "Hammer" out for a little pheasant hunt. I think it would be good for the environment, and good for America.

[The_Casual_Observer]

5. Send him out nekked, hands tied behind his back & blindfolded

Give him the same chance as the texas style canned hunts that Delay likes so much.

Welcome to DU.

[Judi Lynn]

7. It would be GREAT for the environment and also for America.

Welcome to D.U., YashuaZulu. :hi: :hi: :hi:




Hammer Time!

[YashuaZulu]

9. Glad To BE Here

there and anywhere!

Mir, Shanti, Salaam, Paz, & all the Peaces together!

[Harper_is_Bush]

12. welcome to du

:hi:

[newyawker99]

14. Hi YashuaZulu!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Up2Late]

6. Nice quote at the end by Jack Abramoff

Oh and here's a tip, just watch it at the website if you can, I tried downloading both versions, and neither worked right, no sound on the mov, the wav just didn't work at all.

[annabanana]

8. k&r. . . . . . . . . .n/t

[Up2Late]

10. kick n/t

:kick:

[Harper_is_Bush]

11. k&R n/t

[Orsino]

13. DeGuerin reviews film prior to release!

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3708199.html

Dick DeGuerin, DeLay's attorney, said the film offers little in the way of balance.

"I think it's about as fair and balanced as Michael Moore's stuff or Fox News," he said.

It's not clear whether DeGuerin is claiming to have seen the movie, nor whether the reporter even bothered to ask that question before typing up the spin. Fooey.

[Harper_is_Bush]

15. kick!

[0007]

19. DeLay and his rottening "Sour Grapes" -

The documentary, "The Big Buy: How Tom DeLay Stole Congress," is meant to "let people know what actually happened," Schermbeck said. "From the feedback that we get, people say that it is a scandal that they did not understand. We connect the dots. We traced the last four years and put it in such a way that people understand what he is in trouble for."

Politically, Birnbaum is a self-described independent who leans Democratic while Schermbeck said he voted in the Republican primary. Whom he votes for, however, depends on the race, he said.

DeLay has repeatedly criticized Earle for giving the filmmakers access to his office.

"I haven't seen it and really don't plan on hanging out with a bunch of liberal activists at a house party in Austin to catch a sneak peak," DeLay spokeswoman Shannon Flaherty said, "but this documentary just offers further proof that Ronnie Earle is more committed to chasing headlines and fulfilling his revenge fantasy than actually upholding the law."