Is "Path to 9/11" a matter for the FEC to investigate?

[jmowreader]

From what I've been told, "Path to 9/11" is a fictional television program that spouts numerous easily-discredited lies about 9/11. It is supposed to air on the nights of September 10 and 11, 2006. This movie places all of the blame for 9/11 on members of the Democratic Party, specifically President Clinton, and portrays pResident Bush and the Republicans as the only people who can save us from Islamic Fascist Evil.

The program has $40 million invested in its production, and it's to be aired commercial-free during the most prime of prime time hours. While I'm not aware of the current rates for prime-time national television advertising or the monthly mortgage payment or electric bill on a television station, I do know that television ain't exactly what one would call a charitable venture. If the bucks don't come in, the signals don't go out.

Let's pull a rough number out of the air: total impact to ABC's bottom line, $500 million.

I consider this to be an in-kind, illegal campaign contribution because they've donated a whole shitload of free product to the RNC and they haven't declared it to anyone as being what it is.

I went to the FEC's website. Crimes against the Federal Election Code are investigated by the Criminal Divisin of the Department of Justice, which you can reach at [e-mail]. Here's what I sent them:

ABC has announced that it will air the "docudrama" Path to 9/11 on the nights of September 10 and 11, 2006.

This program contains numerous misrepresentations, falsehoods and other assorted lies intended to cast former President Clinton's antiterror programs in a very negative light, and to paint Republicans as far stronger on terrorism than Democrats. As an example, one reported scene in the program depicts a Clinton administration official hanging up on a CIA agent who is requesting permission to kill Osama bin Laden--an allegation that President Clinton's antiterror czar describes as "180 degrees from what actually happened." The miniseries cost ABC and its parent Disney approximately $40 million to produce and it is being aired without commercial sponsorship.

The extreme partisanship displayed in this program represents an attempt by ABC and Disney to influence the outcome of the election.

I'm going to get right to the point: ABC and their corporate parent Disney are broadcasting what is essentially a six-hour, $40 million campaign commercial for the Republican Party, and they're not getting paid to do it. Nor are they calling it what it is--election-year propaganda. Instead, they're referring to it as historical in nature.

I consider what ABC and Disney are doing to be an in-kind soft-money campaign contribution to the Republican Party. Please investigate this malfeasance.

Thank you for your time/

[whistle]

1. FEC is a good one to investigate this film whether it is broadcast

...or not on exactly those grounds, $40 million in campaign advertising and propaganda for the republican party.

[AndyTiedye]

2. And the SEC!

As a Disney shareholder, I am outraged at the misappropriation of company assets, and the damage they are
doing to the company by associating it with a deeply unpopular regime.

This is what I sent to the Disney Board of Directors:

Once again Disney managment is violating its fiduciary duties to its
shareholders in order to engage in partisan politicking.

"Path to 9/11" is a transparent piece of Bush Administration propaganda,
fine-tuned to help the Republican party in this election year.
It presents a fictionalized account of the disaster tailored to shift
the blame onto the prior Democratic administration.
That account has been disavowed by everyone who has first-hand knowledge.

ABC is likely to find that Bush's abysmal ratings start to rub off on the
network. Organized boycotts are likely. Local stations are already being
flooded with letters, emails, and phone calls protesting the show.

Over 40 million dollars was spent on this movie, but there will be no
revenue to the Corporation because there is no advertising, and the movie
is being made available for free downloads and given away to schools.
Why the effort to get a *fictional* account of 9/11 accepted as
educational material by our schools? Why indeed?

The ill will being created by such blatant efforts to shill for a deeply
unpopular Presidency will undoubtably cost Disney Corporation millions in
revenue.

As a shareholder, one has to ask WHY is Disney doing this? Why are corporate
assets being misappropriated on such a massive scale to further a wholely
political agenda -- an unpopular one at that, the pursuit of which could
cause great harm to the corporation, as well as subject it to legal action
and shareholder activism? WHY?

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