Clinton Snags Spielberg In Hollywood Coup

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It's "the political equivalent of the Oscar." That's how the Los Angeles Times describes Sen. Hillary Clinton's snagging of an endorsement from Hollywood heavy hitter Steven Spielberg.

Spielberg had "flirted" with the possibility of backing Clinton's chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but announced Wednesday that he was supporting Clinton.

Does it matter? Who knows. But the Times says it underscores something "Hollywood politicos have been saying for several weeks" – that "members of the largely Democratic entertainment industry are getting over their crush on Obama and are now looking at Clinton as a more likely presidential prospect."

But while Hollywood's fancy may be turning from Obama to Clinton, the Illinois senator is picking up strengthened support from another key constituency – upper-income blacks.

An analysis by USA Today shows Obama has received more than double the number of campaign donations from areas with large concentrations of upper-income blacks than Clinton.

Mosque Bombing Aftershock

The morning papers were grappling with the fallout from Wednesday's bombing of one of Iraq's most revered Shiite shrines – the same holy site that was heavily damaged in an al Qaeda attack last year, leading to a wave of bloody reprisals.

The Los Angeles Times called the latest attack on Samarra's Golden Mosque "a powerful blow to the U.S.-led security plan," and quoted the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraues, as saying he had "a terrible sinking feeling" after hearing about it.

In an interview with USA Today, Petraeus warned that the attack could unleash a new wave of sectarian bloodletting. Petraeus said that while Sunni vs. Shiite violence in Baghdad had been "trending down" recently, "we're going to have to see what the impact of this tragedy in Samarra is on that."

Although some retaliatory attacks on Sunni mosques have been reported, The New York Times said appeals for calm by Shiite and moderate Sunni leaders, as well as U.S. officials, "appeared to have headed off the risk of a new sectarian convulsion, at least for now."

But in more bleak news on the war front, the Wall Street Journal and other papers also note a new Pentagon report "casting doubt on the effectiveness" of the U.S. military's three-month-old troop surge in Baghdad.

The Pentagon assessment, says the Washington Post, shows no drop in overall levels of violence in Iraq since the start of the troop buildup, "as attacks have shifted away from Baghdad and Anbar, where American forces are concentrated, only to rise in most other provinces."


FBI: Snooping Crossed Lines

An FBI audit reveals that the bureau broke rules and potentially laws while collecting personal information during national security investigations far more often than previously acknowledged.

The Washington Post, citing an internal FBI audit, said the agency "potentially violated the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years." The audit looked at just 10 percent of the bureau's national security investigations since 2002, so the actual number of violations is likely to be much higher.

The vast majority of the cases involved FBI agents holding onto records they received from telephone companies and Internet providers which the agents "did not request and were not authorized to collect." But in more than two-dozens cases, agents requested information that "U.S. law did not allow them to have."

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[mike71067]

"Hillary will make a great president. She will have my vote and I am a long way from the Hollywood elite. At least she has a brain and good judgement which is a LOOOOOOOOONG way from what we have today."
-Posted by JBright9 at 08:38 AM : Jun 15, 2007

Well, what we have today is a LOOOOOOOOONG way from communism, which is how I like it. Hillary wants to impose socialism on us. Have you listened to any of her speeches lately? When the was the First Lady everybody hated her for pushing that *** on us. Now she's an actual contender for the White House, and she's very open about her socialist views. I fear that ssome people are either ignoring that or are too dumb to catch it.

[katg21]

Hillary will make a great president. She will have my vote and I am a long way from the Hollywood elite. At least she has a brain and good judgement which is a LOOOOOOOOONG way from what we have today. Whoever gets the job will have a mess to clean up.
Posted by JBright9 at 08:38 AM : Jun 15, 2007

What makes her qualified? Is it because she's a girl? Why don't you do a little research on her; you'll find that what you see (what the media wants you to see) isn't what you get.

[prinzowhales]

A vote for Clinton, Obama, or any of the other Establishment candidates touted by the media will mean the continuation of the noxious Bush policies. The Clintons are crooks, just like their partners in crime, the Bush family. It seems only yesterday that H. Clinton was getting pay-offs in the form of cattle future profits from Tyson Foods--a major polluter in Arkansas.

It seems only yesterday that her husband was committing statutory rape in an Arkansas government office of a friend, a convicted felon, while governor-- enjoying the favors of a young girl in exchange for drugs (according to court documents). These drugs were not hard to come by for Governor Clinton, they came through the Mena, Arkansas airport where he used his office to protect the drug and money smuggling undertaken with Bush proteges like Barry Seal, a notorious drug importer, who, when set up and gunned down, was found to have George Bush, Sr. private office number in his wallet.

Voting for a Clinton is like voting for a Bush...just bobbing for turds in a barrel.

[jbright9]

Hillary will make a great president. She will have my vote and I am a long way from the Hollywood elite. At least she has a brain and good judgement which is a LOOOOOOOOONG way from what we have today. Whoever gets the job will have a mess to clean up.

[beadazzle]

Excuse me who,in their right mind is going to vote for a woman who helped her husband lie about papers when they had a law firm,plus who has a husband who has an over active libedo. If she can't take care of things at home how the hell do you expect her to run this country.

I would rather vote for Obama than her and I'm a woman. As for hollywood they always use their money to get what they want. They have their own little click and if you don't go their way,your out.

How about another 8 years of people losing jobs and homes and each other. How about our kids needing PE in school and prayer. It sure didn't hurt us baby boomers to have PE and prayer in school. We also didn't have kids trying to kill kills and teachers,if we had a beef we went out side and duked it out,or talked it out.

Put another republican in there and the next 4 years will be worse than it ever has been. Gangs controling the streets. Crooks getting out of jail and prison faster for lesser crimes. Gas way higher,food way higher. The rich will get richer and the middle class which is now joinging the poor class will be the next poor class,so all it will be is the rich against the poor.

[iceman_1960]

"Where in the hell is the constitutional amendment demanding the separation of Hollywood and politics!"
- Posted by ozilot at 09:34 PM : Jun 14, 2007

Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?

[hermit22]

"separation of hollyweird and politics" is just a good figment of someone's imagination, just like the "separation of church and state" is a bad figment of missguided imagination. it is not real. did you see the PBS report on Jefferson recently from the AMERICAN UNIVERSITY? they went back into REAL history...not just the perpetual repeat of something that never really existed...."the separation of church and state"....is just a misguided quote that people drag out when they don't want religious people to have a voice....

[hermit22]

montraville, your brain is slithering around, missing the point again. to put things it really plain english, PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF HOLLYWIERD DUMPING GARBAGE ON THEM.

your lack of sympathy for the values of americans is what is upsetting.

i don't know WHO you are....but you need your head examined. twisting hollywierds lack of responsibility for there adverse effects on the culture into "sympathy for america's enemies"....is convoluted.

"hates capitalism" is a convoluted twist.
give consumers the CHOICE of t.v. that they wanted to SUBSIDISE: helpful churches, programs, education etc. OR floozies and fools on t.v....now that CHOICE would BE capitalism.FORCED payments to fools-floosies are not nice!

did anyone see the CBS ad running every ten minute today during the ellen show of Floozity Huffman announcing to the world she was worried her boobs were going to fall out of her dress ? Floozity Huffman was a real blight on kids watching a show which had so many delightful animal clips. CBS needs to be ashamed again.

[frb01]

She may very well win the nomination, her problem is that she has very high negative poll numbers, and she is not based on her financial records poor anymore. How that plays in the media is anyone's guess, but given her track record she needs all the help she can get.

[iceman_1960]

"Most Americans, although we enjoy their movies, music, etc., believe that actors and actresses are complete idiots. Their liberal worldviews are not in line with the views of real Americans. That's the truth."
- Posted by mike71067 at 02:31 PM : Jun 14, 2007

There are some Conservatives in the entertainment industry. They're not the majority, but they aren't blacklisted or ostracized either. Some are among the most successful: Bruce Willis, Ahhhnold of course, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson (ok, strike that name from the list), Tom Selleck, Kevin Costner, Britney Spears (ok, strike that name from the list), Angie Harmon and many others.