Eastwood's Sickening Million-dollar Baby

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=65 BGCOLOR="#666699" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="04e00840erlcjm.png"> <div> <FONT SIZE="4" COLOR="#FFFFFF" FACE="Arial" ><B>Eastwood's Sickening Million-dollar Baby</B></FONT><B>     |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Mark Felling.com Dont let life pass you"><B>home</B></A></div> <div> back to<B>  </B><A HREF="take_action.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Support / Take Action"><B>Support / Take Action</B></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=150 BGCOLOR="#CCCCFF" TEXT="#080000" background="04811c00egdysm.png"> <bR> <div> <B>Eastwood's Sickening Million-dollar Baby</B></div> <div> <A HREF="id466.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Broke Ellison Story">The Broke Ellison Story</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id414.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="72804 Stem Cell Enhancement Act of 2004">7-28-04 Stem Cell Enhancement Act of 2004</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id411.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="News: Letter to President Bush">News: Letter to President Bush</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id410.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="2004 Presidential Election">2004 Presidential Election</A></div> <div> <A HREF="id409.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Call White House">Call White House</A></div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=415 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="5" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="816" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=CENTER HEIGHT= 82 ><NOBR><div> <A HREF="http://www.broadenedhorizons.com" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.broadenedhorizons.com"><B><IMG SRC="961dd4b0.png" border=0 width="221" height="75" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></A></div> </NOBR></tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="94"><div> <A HREF="http://www.BroadenedHorizons.com" TARGET="_blank" TITLE="http://www.BroadenedHorizons.com"><B>"Innovative Solutions for the Mobility Impaired"</B></A></div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=CENTER WIDTH="467"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="82" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="467" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.makethemgoaway.com/" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.makethemgoaway.com/"><IMG SRC="8cbc8370.png" border=0 width="200" height="311" ALIGN="RIGHT" HSPACE="5" VSPACE="0"></A>Clint Eastwood has been fighting a high-profile personal campaign against the American With Disabilities act after he was sued for owning an inaccessible restaurant.  After a $6.5 million renovation not one bathroom was accessible.  He managed to avoid being served for over two yearsthen claimed he did not have a chance to comply and initiated legislation to begin the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).  Check out <A HREF="http://www.milliondollarbigot.org/" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.milliondollarbigot.org/">Million-dollar Bigot</A>.  Now Hollywood critics tout his movie, <I>Million-dollar Baby,</I> as "heart-wrenching", giving the message that disabled people are better off dead.</div> <bR> <div> From John Hockenberry's <I>"</I><A HREF="http://www.milliondollarbigot.org/loser.html" TARGET="TRLX_Middle" TITLE="http://www.milliondollarbigot.org/loser."><I>And the Loser Is...</I></A><I>"</I></div> <bR> <div> "If Mr. Eastwood is so convinced that his film is grounded in reality then perhaps he might wish to accompany me to the U.S. Army's Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland where there are 1000 or so severely disabled soldiers from Iraq whose lives are changed forever, who were told they fought for Iraqi freedom and are now perhaps wondering, along with their families, who is going to fight for their freedom to live a full life here in America. As a paraplegic for three decades I can help them with that question. Would Mr. tough guy Eastwood and his new pals Frank Rich and Roger Ebert have the guts to defend Million Dollar Baby's "plausible" message of suicidal disabled people? Would they offer to helpfully pull the plug on these soldiers? How's that for a plot twist? Thank God there is another message of hope and strength inside Walter Reed and in pockets of sanity in this country. I pray that someday it's a plausible one in Hollywood and throughout America."</div> <bR> <div> <I>John Hockenberry is an author and correspondent for NBC News He lives in New York with his wonderful wife Alison, and their equally wonderful kids, Zoe, Olivia, Regan and Zachary.</I></div> <bR> <div> People with disabilities have an opportunity to lead society from the isolation and despair of today into a renewed recognition of belonging and community for all. The idea that people with disabilities are not worthy of society's acceptance or resources is not new. We see this form of hatred throughout history, often masked as benevolence. But for the first time in history, people with disabilities are organizing our community to fight back, to demand the equal protection of the law.</div> <div> <I>-- Diane Coleman, J.D., Founder, Not Dead Yet</I></div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>