-Caveat Lector- NRA Fires Back at Spike, Rosie by Daniel Frankel June 1, 1999, 6:20 p.m. PT It was only two weeks ago that Rosie O'Donnell made headlines by getting on Tom Selleck's case about appearing in a National Rifle Association advertisement. Imagine the talk-show host's surprise Tuesday, when she opened USA Today to find her own name appearing--alongside fellow NRA critic Spike Lee's--in one of the gun-lobbying organization's full-page print ads. The ad, headlined, "SPIKE LEE, ROSIE O'DONNELL AND THE REST OF THIS COUNTRY'S GUN HATERS NEED TO READ THIS," features a fairly lengthy transcript to a speech given by NRA Vice President Wayne LaPierre last week to a House Judiciary subcommittee. Perhaps taking aim at O'Donnell--and the persistent anti-gun stance she's taken on her syndicated talk show in the wake of the Columbine High School shooting tragedy--LaPierre implicates what he calls "made-for-TV lawmaking" in a discussion ostensibly to clarify his organization's position on gun-control. "It needs a villain," he explains. "So good Americans have been exposed daily to a well-coordinated, systematic bashing of the National Rifle Association's membership as somehow a reckless societal pathogen, a mighty extremist empire opposed to safety, caution and reason." Lee--quoted late last month at the Cannes Film Festival as saying of NRA President Charlton Heston, "Shoot him--with a .44 caliber Bulldog," and adding he'd like to "dismantle" the NRA--received more direct treatment from LaPierre. "It's reasonable for well-meaning people to convene hearings like this to find and fashion solutions," he says in the ad. "What's unreasonable is when a new level of hate rhetoric becomes acceptable because it's aimed at honest gun owners, as in the violent language of influential filmmaker Spike Lee...By his defiant silence, instead of a quick apology most American role models would offer, he sanctions hate..." For his part, Lee has spoken about the matter, indicating he was very clear with reporters at the time that his comments were made merely in fun. "I intended it as ironic, as a joke to show how violence begets more violence," Lee says. "I told everyone there it was a joke. I said I did not want to read in the papers, 'Shoot Charlton Heston.'" http://www.eonline.com/News/Items/0,1,4847,00.html Bard Visit me at: The Center for Exposing Corruption in the Federal Government http://www.xld.com/public/center/center.htm Federal Government defined: ....a benefit/subsidy protection racket! DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
