Thread: Susan Sarandon:US should help Mexico build schools, not wall

Why even build schools there as it is a proven fact that they have the largest dropout rate of any group. They do not hold education in high esteem and is is not important to them because if it was those that have children in our schools here would have a much higher graduation rate than the horrible one they have now even when it is for free.

Why do we care what she has to say about this issue?

What exactly are her qualifications to speak on this issue?

What makes her an expert on this issue?

Why is she someone who's words we should heed on this subject?

She is a person who is good at reading what other people write and pretending it is her saying it and she does it in motion pictures. How does that make her an expert on immigration policy? Or anything else for that matter?

That is my point they are out there shooting off their mouths but do not put up the bucks to back it up.

Exactly.
Susie would have to pull out both feet before she could put her money where her mouth is.

http://www.celebritywonder.com/html/susansarandon.html

Said death threats and attacks by the public after she spoke out against the Iraq war had left her scared. (May 4, 2006)
Is joining the cast of MR. WOODCOCK, a comedy about a young man who returns to his hometown to stop his mother from marrying his hated high school gym teacher. (February 23, 2005)
Is among those gathering outside Fort Benning, Georgia, to protest a military school there. The school serves as a military training center for Latin American soldiers. Protesters claim graduates of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation were involved in human rights abuses in the 1980's. (November 24, 2004)
Fears she let friends and family down at this year's Oscar ceremony by refusing to make a strong anti-war statement. (November 21, 2003)
Criticized America's former first lady Hillary Clinton’s political performance, claiming she blew her chance of success, and is convinced the only reason she'll go down in history is for supporting her adulterous husband, former American President Bill Clinton. (November 10, 2003)
The vocal antiwar stance of Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins has prompted organizers of the Baseball Hall of Fame to cancel a 15th anniversary celebration of BULL DURHAM that was to have included the movie's costars and director -- Hall prez Dale Petroskey fired off a letter to Robbins and Sarandon on Tuesday telling them the April 26 and 27 festivities were nixed because of critical remarks made by the activist-minded thesps. (April 11, 2003)
Sarandon has lashed out at American TV coverage of the war in Iraq, claiming viewers are being subjected to pro-US President George W. Bush propaganda -- She says, I was in Canada when this was happening and if you're outside the country you get a very different perspective on the way things are working. You get news from around the world. (April 11, 2003)
Sarandon has slammed a New York newspaper for publishing an incorrect story about her teenage son -- The American publication printed an article claiming that Sarandon’s 13-year-old son Jack failed to land the lead in his school play and so he quit the production rather than accept a smaller role. (April 10, 2003)
Sarandon said she was disturbed by a charity's decision to cancel her appearance at a fund-raising event because of complaints about her anti-war views -- In a statement Friday, Sarandon said, Considering the depletion of federal funds for community programs and the faltering economy, it is disturbing to me that the United Way is letting partisanship determine its support base. (March 29, 2003)
Sarandon has used the premiere of her new film THE BANGER SISTERS to criticize British Prime Minister Tony Blair and President George W. Bush - while attending the premiere of the movie in London's Leicester Square, the actress said she could not understand Blair's relationship with President Bush about the prospect of war with Iraq. What's happened to Blair? I don't understand his reasoning or his logic. I don't understand his evolution. I can see him being seduced by (former President) Bill Clinton, but don't understand what him and Bush speak about. (January 30, 2003)
Sarandon was presented with the Governor's Award for Outstanding Contribution to Jersey Arts Thursday at the Cape May New Jersey State Film Festival, but she said she wanted a rest stop named for her (November 16, 2002)
She got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday, August 5, 2003.
Sarandon's star, on the sidewalk in front of the new Kodak Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, is next to comedian Whoopi Goldberg's star.
On the word of Sarandon, the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar she won for her 1995 role in DEAD MAN WALKING, is proudly displayed in her guest bathroom.
Sometimes credited as: Susan Tomalin
MORE SUSAN SARANDON TRIVIA

just another loony tune I do her just like I do Hanoi Jane Fonda. I refuse to watch anything they are in.

Like I told some christian acadamy students that came to my door asking for donations to build a school in Mexico "I already gave, my property taxes recently increased to pay for building the new school 2 blocks from me to accomidate the influx of hispanics in this small community. Good day!".

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02937.html

Immigration Is Not in the Script For Hollywood's Cause Celebs

By Darragh Johnson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, April 20, 2006; C01



Here's how it goes, pretty much: Controversy hits. Celebrities chime in.

You've got your Kanyes trash-talking Bush after Katrina, and your Martin Sheens railing against the war in Iraq. You've got Susan Sarandons and Tim Robbinses agitating for Haitian refugees at the Academy Awards, and your Marlon Brandos no-showing for his "Godfather" Oscar to protest treatment of Native Americans. You've got Hanoi Jane. (And, on a really good day, you've got Gulf Coast Savior Sean Penn on TV, commandeering a small boat, not just talking the talk, but rowing the row.)

Now the immigration debate is hot. But the celebrity squawk is, well, not.

Where are the celebrities?

Hello, Hollywood? Hellooo?

Okay, Salma is on board. Last week, Salma Hayek became the first Big Name to Speak Out. She told the New York Daily News:

"As a human being, I find this situation intolerable. As an immigrant, I find it offensive. And as an American citizen, I find it disheartening. The work that these immigrants do directly affects the health of the U.S. economy." She closed her production company last week "in solidarity with the immigrants" and will close it again May 1, "in observance of the protests."

And Eva Longoria, who's traveling the country promoting her new movie, has been speaking -- carefully -- about the debate:

"We're a land of immigrants and nobody is from here," she told the Houston Chronicle this week. "I do understand the economic value of illegal workers. If you deport all the Mexicans at once, there'd be a serious dent to our society and economic structure," she said, on the one hand. But then there was her other hand: ". . . I understand the need for stricter borders because of bigger issues like terrorism. So, I don't think our administration can afford for this to end badly." (Maybe she's an adviser to Celebrity Governor Schwarzenegger, whose statements sound strikingly similar.)

Many famous lips have remained zipped. It's not that Latino entertainers are not interested in the subject, their publicists said. What they are is: unavailable in Maui (Carlos Santana), or mid-divorce (director Robert Rodriguez), or "so busy . . . her mind is on other things" (Lynda Carter), or "just busy doing other things and isn't paying too much attention" (Jimmy Smits).

"Nobody is speaking out on their behalf, including myself," says Esai Morales of "NYPD Blue," "and I feel guilty."

But the only reason he's now talking is: "You called to ask me a question." But, he adds quickly, "I've been actively supporting immigrants." He explains: "It's almost like . . . I'm constantly speaking out on Latino issues . . . and I get a little tired of hearing myself talk."

And others spoke up, once we called.

Susan Sarandon: "It's very easy to blame immigrants for the disastrous state of our economy, the failure of the health care system, the educational crisis, the disappearing middle class and just about every ill that makes this country unwelcoming to the immigrants. That is a smoke screen to distract us from the real sources of these problems. I stand with the founders of this country and the sentiment written on the Statue of Liberty."

Ron Silver: "I think President Bush, on this issue, is on the right side of history, and the Republicans should think long and hard about which side they're on."

Elizabeth Avellan (production partner and soon-to-be-ex-wife of filmmaker Robert Rodriguez): "I'm very proud of Bush for standing up. . . . He's saying, 'You guys are being irrational' -- and racist, if you ask my opinion. . . . He's standing up and saying, 'We have to find a good solution for these people.' "

Not that immigration is easy. It's one thing to come out in favor of eradicating breast cancer or raising money for childhood leukemia -- who could argue with that? Immigration is a whole lot mushier.

"It's early, it's complicated and it's political," says celeb expert Joe Dolce, editor in chief of Star, "and stars don't need to have political viewpoint."

Not only do they not need one, having one can be hazardous.

"On polarizing issues such as immigration, [they] say, 'I'm going to alienate 50 percent of my fan base. This directly affects my bottom line,' " notes Us Weekly Editor in Chief Janice Min.

And in all likelihood, many celebs employ illegal help, a fact that encourages the silence: "You'd be hard-pressed to find a celebrity in Hollywood who has a legal cleaning woman [or] gardener, pool boy, nanny," says Min.

Yet -- if we look at this in the crassest light possible, doesn't the businessperson in every Hollywood star realize that those hundreds of thousands of people who have marched, day after day, across the country -- that all of those people are consumers , moviegoers and CD and DVD buyers, ripe for an outspoken hero to court them?

Daddy Yankee, the Puerto Rican pop star, apparently does: When he performed with Snoop Dogg last month, in front of 18,000 fans in Los Angeles, he wore onstage his "ALTO A LA HR4437" T-shirt -- a cry to Stop House Resolution 4437, the bill that would make it criminal to help illegal immigrants, make it a felony (rather than a civil infraction) for them to be here and add more walls along the Mexican-American border.

The celebrity silence, though, is a far cry from the courageous voices that decried the Vietnam War and rallied support for the civil rights movement -- people like Ossie Davis and Harry Belafonte, whose careers suffered. People like Dick Gregory and Eartha Kitt, who found themselves on Nixon's infamous enemies list.

At the same time, the groundswell of immigrant rights marches have surprised not only mainstream America, but the politically minded inside Hollywood, too.

"It really is like spontaneous combustion," noted Ralph G. Neas, president of Washington-based People for the American Way. "Everything has been organized virtually from the ground up, and I think everybody, including the celebrities, is just catching up with this movement."

Which is where Felix Sanchez, the pro bono chairman of the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts, comes in. He's trying to connect organizations working for immigration reform with "a number of senior high-level Latino celebrities."

"Generally, it's not the actor/celebrity trying to find the organization, it's the organization trying to reach out," he said. But because this issue was led by lesser-known grass-roots groups, he adds, "neither could find each other."

The question now is: Can the celebrities make a difference? Will the people who care about the designers behind Eva Longoria's sunglasses or about Salma Hayek's latest film -- will they care about a much more serious side of their Hollywood stars?

Maybe not.

Us Weekly recently posted on its Web site an item about Hayek on the immigration issue, Min said, and an item on a fight between Lindsay Lohan and Jessica Simpson.

Responses to the Lindsey-Jessica fracas: 180.

Responses to Salma Hayek and immigration: zero.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

Immigration Debate
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www.PollingPoint.com

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www.USCitizenship.info

I say, "GO SUSAN" and while you're at it why don't you get some others who have "a few dollars to spare" like George Bush, John Kerry, Ted kennedy, John McCain and I can come up with a bunch more to join your cause.

ALL OF YOU, go on down, build some schools and while you're at it, make sure they all get their vaccinations, since that seems to be too much for Vicente.

GATHER YOUR TEAM AND GO !!

We'll stay here and help our country recover from the invasion. You guys all have "a few extra dollars" and we've got the will.....maybe we can make this thing work.

In the meantime, until this invasion stops.....the wall goes UP !

2mares said

Like I told some christian acadamy students that came to my door asking for donations to build a school in Mexico "I already gave, my property taxes recently increased to pay for building the new school 2 blocks from me to accomidate the influx of hispanics in this small community. Good day!".

They beg or they outright TAKE - the hand is either out for a freebie or it's in your pocket! Enough already!!! And as for Miss Sarandon, use your efforts to get some better acting parts in the biz, you are slipping fast!