Do not fear the lack of knowledge, fear false knowledge. All evil in this world comes from false knowledge. - Leo Tolstoy
LAKEPORT -- There are strong indications in Hollywood that Paramount Films will soon begin production on a motion picture based on the life of the late Lake County humanitarian Marla Ruzicka, killed earlier this year by a suicide bomber in Iraq.
The strongest indicators that the film project will go forward are that an executive producer and a screen writer have been identified and a popular young actress, Kirsten Dunst, has been chosen to portray Marla in a film, according to Variety magazine.
Dunst, 23, includes "Elizabethtown" and the female lead role in "Spiderman" among her long string of credits.
Variety said that Mark Platt of Platt Productions will be the movie's producer and Lorene Scafaria, whose film scripting credits include "The Mighty Flynn," will write the screenplay.
But Marla's stepsister, Jill Ruzicka-Leighton, a screenplay writer, cautions that the movie is far from a "done deal."
"I am incredibly pleased with how much interest there is in this project," said Ruzicka-Leighton, "but it is very premature and at such an early stage right now.
"There are so many pitfalls along the way that nine and a half times out of 10 the films don't get made," she added. "It's never a done deal until it's finished and in the can. At the earliest, it will be two years before we see anything."
Ruzicka-Leighton pointed out that writing the screen play has not even begun yet, but granted, "It's very unusual at this point to have an actress."
Reportedly, Dunst has considerable knowledge of Marla Ruzicka's work and walked into Platt's office with an armload of Marla clippings insisting she simply had to have this role. Although the project is at such a premature stage that it would seem few people had heard about it, Ruzicka-Leighton said, "Hollywood's such a small town; everybody knows everything."
Platt could not be reached to confirm the story and no response has yet been received to questions a Record-Bee reporter sent to Dunst.
The concept for the film reportedly grew out of a book project on her life that Marla had undertaken with author Jennifer Abrahamson.
"Before Marla was killed she was approached by a literary agent who had heard what she was doing and asked her to write a book about it," Ruzicka-Leighton said. "So Marla hooked up with Abrahamson and was killed when she and Jen were working on it."
The book project inspired the movie idea, but even before Marla's death, Jill said, calls had been made to screen writers regarding projects about her life.
Marla and the Campaign for Innocent Victims of Conflict organization she founded raised $28 million to assist victims of war at the time of her death in April. She was 28.
Ruzicka-Leighton said Dunst is a "great and intelligent actress," but said she didn't know enough about her to compare any parts of her character with Marla.
"This would be a very key role for her, but it is not a documentary and she will not be trying to replace Marla," she said. "Julia Roberts looked nothing at all like Erin Brockovich.
"But she is at an age where she could play Marla."
http://www.record-bee.com/Stories/0,1413,255~26901~3116092,00.html
[[ Ed Note: Dahbud's references regarding Marla Ruzicka.
Human Rights Watch mourns the death of Marla Ruzicka, Lakeport, Lake County, California, a tireless human rights activist working to provide compensation for civilian victims of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Dumb Debbie Dumps Dirty
"Marla Ruzicka deserved to die at the hands
of Iraqi terrorists." says Debbie Schlussel
Lake County, California Residents 'Up In Arms' Over Debbie!
Spitting on Marla Ruzicka's grave
http://www.flyingsnail.com/Dahbud/050430dahmain.html
I Can't Wait
By David Swanson
Thursday, 3 November 2005, 10:53 am
Remarks for World Can't Wait Rally at White House, Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2005:
I don't know about the world, but certainly I can't wait any longer to end this war or to impeach this president. One more death, American or Iraqi, is too many.
Actually, what I said is not true. We do know something about the world. We know that polls that were done last year were unable to find another country on the planet that would have elected Bush or even made it close enough for him to steal.
Even in this country, we know that African Americans and Latino Americans and Jewish Americans and Female Americans and Unionized Americans and Urban Americans and Non-Military Americans and Non-Religious Americans voted against him. And we know that the Christian white guys, not to mention vets and military families, are coming around. Just look at how Harry Reid stood up yesterday and announced the birth of an opposition party in the United States Senate. George W. Bush is becoming a uniter, not a divider, after all. It's just that he's uniting the country against himself.
What else do we know about the world? We know that Argentina is planning a major protest for Bush's visit. We know that the Prime Minister of Italy is having to oppose the war in hopes of getting reelected, even though he owns 80 percent of his country's media. We know that the British Ministry of Defense recently found that 82 percent of Iraqis want U.S. troops to stop liberating them right away.
The Pew Research Center released data in June on attitudes around the world toward Bush and the United States. The findings were not pretty.
In every nation surveyed, more disapproved than approved of Bush's so-called re-election. In most countries 60 or 70 percent or more disapproved.
When asked whether U.S. foreign policy considers others' interests, 67 percent of U.S. citizens said yes, but in most countries only around 20 percent or less said yes.
Asked which nations they think of favorably, most Europeans ranked China above the United States.
During the course of Bush's occupation of the White House, the percentage of Brits who approve of the U.S. government's actions has dropped from 83 percent to 55. Among Canadians, approval has dropped from 71 to 59, among Germans from 78 to 41, Indonesians 75 to 38, Turks 52 to 23.
What is the world so upset about?
Well, it's hard to speak for the world, but we do know that most of the world never believed the lies that launched the war and never supported the war. It's not that the world is heartless. Other nations expressed great sympathy on September 11, 2001 and thereafter. It's more that the world is not stupid. People just never believed the hype.
If anyone did believe the hype, it was a group of Americans that included the U.S. Congress. Certainly Bush and his cronies did not themselves believe the lies they were peddling. Their own top experts told them that various claims were not credible, and they went on national television and stated them as fact again and again.
The International Atomic Energy Agency had told them there was no indication Iraq had the ability to develop nuclear weapons. The CIA had told them the forged documents re alleged attempts to purchase uranium were obvious forgeries. The Energy Department had told them the aluminum tubes were not of a type that could be used to develop nuclear weapons. Hussein Kamel, whom they repeatedly cited as a source, had told them that all WMDs had been destroyed. The inspections verified this. The Germans told them that their source, named "Curveball", was "out of control" and "a waste of time." The Czechs had told them there was no Iraq-Al Qaeda meeting.
They knew they were lying. The world told them. We told them. Courageous members of the U.S. Congress told them.
One of the Congress Members who shouted it the loudest was Dennis Kucinich. He has now introduced a Resolution of Inquiry into the White House Iraq Group. This was the group, led by Rove and Libby, that was tasked with selling the public the war. The Resolution is H Res 505, and it will come to a vote in committee in about 10 days. The time to ask your Representative to Co-Sponsor it is now.
You know, back when talk of impeaching Clinton was the only story on the news, week after week, 36 percent of Americans favored impeachment proceedings, and 26 percent favored actual impeachment. A few weeks ago, before the Libby indictment, a poll commissioned by After Downing Street and conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs found that 50 percent of Americans want Bush impeached if he lied about the war. If we shout that loudly enough, it will climb even higher.
We owe it to the world to do so.
Bush is a Stain on the Blue Dress of Life
“I will swear to uphold the laws of the land. But I will also swear to uphold the honor and the integrity of the office to which I have been elected, so help me God.” - GWB
“Americans want to be assured that the next administration will bring honor and dignity to the White House.” - GWB
"I don't know of anybody in my administration who leaked classified information. If somebody did leak classified information, I'd like to know it, and we'll take the appropriate action." - GWB
"There's been nothing, absolutely nothing, brought to our attention to suggest any White House involvement, and that includes the vice president's office, as well. If anyone in this administration was involved in it, they would no longer be in this administration." - Scott McClellan
On June 10, 2004, during a news conference, George W. Bush was asked if he stood by his pledge to fire anyone found to have leaked Plame's name and answered, "Yes, and that's up to the U.S. attorney to find the facts."
I would like this to end as quickly as possible. If someone committed a karl ..err crime, they will no longer work in my administration. - GWb
Controlling the
News
http://flyingsnail.com/Dahbud/newscontrol.html
(June 15, 2003) We are going to be running into serious problems with the growing resistance movements in Iraq. GIs are being killed and wounded, convoys ambushed and worst of all scenarios are coming true: The Iraqi oil is being interdicted before it can be shipped out of the country. Casualties cannot be concealed but can be minimized. No clips of dead or injured US personnel... pipeline fires can be shown but voice over should stress that technicians (from Haliburton, of course) are putting out these as quickly as possible. Damage is to be minimal... the nature of the attackers... these are a handful of diehard Saddam supporters... who are being successfully tracked down and neutralized by ever-vigilant and prepared US troops. Show pictures of captured (not dead) Iraqis. Be careful to vet the shots so as not to include any captives that appear to have been beaten... [click above link to read more]
Survey: One in
Five Teens Have Own Blogs
by Martha Irvine
CHICAGO - Nearly three in five school-age teens with Internet access have created online content, including Web pages with artwork, photos and stories — and about a fifth have their own blogs, which also allow friends and other readers to create feedback postings.
Those are some of the findings from a survey of 12- to 17-year-olds conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.
The survey also found that older school-age girls with online access were most likely to keep a blog. About a quarter of girls, ages 15 to 17, did so, compared with 15 percent of boys in that age group.
Among adults, Pew says about 7 percent of Internet users have created their own blogs, or online diaries. And while 26 percent of adults say they read blogs, 38 percent of young people with online access said they do so.
Researchers note that the main reason teens are drawn to blogs is a wish to keep in touch with one another.
"Blogging for teens is about staying tuned into their friendship networks, not about politics or people getting in trouble at school, which are two of the main narratives that journalists have covered in recent months," says Amanda Lenhart, a senior researcher at Pew who helped compile the report.
The findings, which have a margin of error of 3 percentage points, are based on a random telephone survey of about 1,100 young people and their parents, conducted Oct. 16 to Nov. 28, 2004.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051103/ap_on_hi_te/teen_blogging
What Will THEY Say?
Taken
From the INDICTMENT
PLAYBOOK:
"Something Weird
Is Going On"
Photo
of Indictment Press Release
Click Image To Play New Neocon Theme Song
(Midi format)
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