Thursday, November 03, 2005

Academy Announces 2005 Nicholl Fellowship Winners Beverly Hills, CA — Six new screenwriters, two who wrote collaboratively, have been selected as recipients of the 20th anniversary Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Each writer or writing team will receive the first installment of the prestigious fellowship's $30,000 prize money at a gala dinner in Beverly Hills on November 10 at which Academy Award winner Charlie Kaufman will be the keynote speaker.   This year's winners are (listed alphabetically by script title): “The Days Between,” Morgan Read-Davidson, Downey, California “Fire in a Coal Mine,” Seth Resnik, West Hollywood, and Ron Moskovitz, Los Angeles “No Country,” Michael D. Zungolo, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania “Pirates of Lesser Providence,” Colleen Cooper De Maio, Los Angeles “Ring of Fire,” Gian Marco Masoni, Santa Monica, California This is the third consecutive year that a script written by a team earned its writers a fellowship; collaborative efforts were first allowed into the competition in 2001. The winners were selected from nearly 6,000 scripts submitted for this year's competition, which is open to any individual who has not sold or optioned a screenplay or teleplay for more than $5,000 or received a fellowship or prize that includes a "first look" clause, an option, or any other quid pro quo involving the writer's work. Nicholl dinner keynoter Charlie Kaufman took home an Oscar statuette earlier this year for his original screenplay “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” (2004). Kaufman previously earned Academy Award nominations for “Being John Malkovich” (1999) and “Adaptation” (2002). Final judging of the competition was conducted by the Nicholl Committee, chaired by writer and 1992 Nicholl Fellow Susannah Grant and comprised of writers John Gay, Fay Kanin and Hal Kanter, cinematographers John Bailey and Steven Poster, editor Mia Goldman, actor Eva Marie Saint, executive Bill Mechanic, producers Gale Anne Hurd, David Nicksay and Buffy Shutt, and agent Ron Mardigian. Fellowships are awarded with the understanding that the recipients will each complete a feature-length screenplay during the fellowship year. The Academy acquires no rights to the works of Nicholl Fellows and does not involve itself commercially in any way with their completed scripts. Since the program's inception in 1985, 93 fellowships have been awarded, and a number of the fellows have achieved considerable success. This year saw the release of three films written by 1996 Fellow Ehren Kruger: “The Ring Two,” “The Skeleton Key” and “The Brothers Grimm.” Kruger’s previously produced credits include “Arlington Road,” ”The Ring,” “Scream 3” and “Reindeer Games.” Susannah Grant wrote this year’s “In Her Shoes.” In 2000, she received an Academy Award nomination for her "Erin Brockovich" screenplay and also wrote or co-wrote "28 Days," "Ever After," and "Pocahontas." Raymond De Felitta, a 1991 Fellow, directed this year’s “The Thing about My Folks.” Previously, De Felitta wrote and directed "Two Family House" (from his Nicholl Fellowship year script) and "Cafe Society." Other notable successes include last year’s critically acclaimed "Mean Creek," written and directed by Jacob Estes from his 1998 Nicholl-winning script, and "Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights," co-written by 1993 fellow Victoria Arch. "Admissions" (aka "Island of Brilliance"), Dawn O'Leary's 1993 winning script, premiered at the Mill Valley Film Festival in 2004. 1998 Fellow Mike Rich wrote "Radio," "The Rookie" and "Finding Forrester," which was his Nicholl-winning script. In addition, 1998 Fellow Karen Moncrieff's "Blue Car" was released in 2002, and Allison Anders, a 1986 Fellow, is the co-writer and director of "Things Behind the Sun" and the writer-director of "Gas Food Lodging" and "Mi Vida Loca." 1992 Fellow Andrew Marlowe wrote "Air Force One," "Hollow Man" and "End of Days." 1986 Fellow Jeffrey Eugenides won a 2003 Pulitzer Prize for his novel "Middlesex." # # # ©A.M.P.A.S.® Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences 8949 Wilshire Boulevard Beverly Hills, CA 90211-1972 (310) 247-3000 www.oscars.org publicity@oscars.org 4:33:24 PM    comment []

Rove's Future Role Is Debated White House May Seek Fresh Start In Wake of Leak By Jim VandeHei and Carol D. Leonnig Washington Post Staff Writers Thursday, November 3, 2005; A01 Top White House aides are privately discussing the future of Karl Rove, with some expressing doubt that President Bush can move beyond the damaging CIA leak case as long as his closest political strategist remains in the administration. If Rove stays, which colleagues say remains his intention, he may at a minimum have to issue a formal apology for misleading colleagues and the public about his role in conversations that led to the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame, according to senior Republican sources familiar with White House deliberations. While Rove faces doubts about his White House status, there are new indications that he remains in legal jeopardy from Special Counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald's criminal investigation of the Plame leak. The prosecutor spoke this week with an attorney for Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper about his client's conversations with Rove before and after Plame's identity became publicly known because of anonymous disclosures by White House officials, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. Fitzgerald is considering charging Rove with making false statements in the course of the 22-month probe, and sources close to Rove -- who holds the titles of senior adviser and White House deputy chief of staff -- said they expect to know within weeks whether the most powerful aide in the White House will be accused of a crime. But some top Republicans said yesterday that Rove's problems may not end there. Bush's top advisers are considering whether it is tenable for Rove to remain on the staff, given that Fitzgerald has already documented something that Rove and White House official spokesmen once emphatically denied -- that he played a central role in discussions with journalists about Plame's role at the CIA and her marriage to former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, a critic of the Iraq war. "Karl does not have any real enemies in the White House, but there are a lot of people in the White House wondering how they can put this behind them if the cloud remains over Karl," said a GOP strategist who has discussed the issue with top White House officials. "You can not have that [fresh] start as long as Karl is there." A swift resolution is needed in part to ease staff tension, a number of people inside and out of the White House said. Many mid-level staffers inside have expressed frustration that press secretary Scott McClellan's credibility was undermined by Rove, who told the spokesman that he was not involved in the leak, according to people familiar with the case. Some aides said Rove told Bush the same thing, though little is known about the precise nature of the president's conversations with his closest political adviser. McClellan relayed Rove's denial to reporters from the White House lectern in 2003, and he has not yet offered a public explanation for his inaccurate statements. "That is affecting everybody," said a Republican who has discussed the issue with the White House. "Scott personally is really beaten down by this. Everybody I talked to talks about this." I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's former chief of staff, will be arraigned today on five counts, involving three felony charges, in the leak probe. Libby also told McClellan two years ago he was not involved, a denial that was also relayed to the public. White House communications director Nicolle Wallace said that there have not been any White House meetings to discuss Rove's fate, and that the senior adviser is actively engaged and "doing an outstanding job." She said "there is no debate" over Rove's future. Rove has long been regarded as the most influential and feared Bush aide and has enjoyed the fervent backing of the president and influential conservatives. Republicans with firsthand knowledge of the private talks about Rove's political problems said there have been informal discussions involving people inside and outside the White House, and that they reflected the views of a large number of administration officials who are concerned about Bush's efforts to start anew in 2006 with as little interference from the scandal as possible. In U.S. District Court today, Libby is expected to plead not guilty to the five-count indictment that charges him with obstruction of justice, perjury and false statements. Anticipating intense media interest, court officials arranged for the arraignment to be held in the oversized Ceremonial Courtroom, which can seat hundreds and is the largest courtroom in the federal courthouse here. U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, randomly selected among the trial judges, will preside over Libby's case. The judge has recently overseen the civil lawsuit of former bioweapons scientist Stephen J. Hatfill against the Justice Department for linking him to the 2001 anthrax attacks. Libby, whose friends have begun raising money for his legal defense fund, is expected to be represented in court by Joseph A. Tate, a partner in his former law firm. But intermediaries for Libby have in recent days contacted several law firms with extensive white-collar criminal defense experience about possibly representing Libby in the near future, according to legal sources. Rove remains in legal limbo. Fitzgerald made it clear to Rove's attorney in private conversations last week that his client remains under investigation. And he signaled the same in his indictment of Libby on Friday, in which he identified a senior White House official who had conversations related to the Plame leak as "Official A." White House colleagues say Rove is clearly "Official A," based on the detailed description. That kind of pseudonym is often used by prosecutors to refer to an unindicted co-conspirator, or someone who faces the prospect of being charged. No other administration official is identified in this way in Fitzgerald's indictment. Rove was interviewed by FBI agents in the fall of 2003. He subsequently testified four times before the grand jury, which legal experts say is an unusually large number of appearances given that he was told he was a subject of the investigation and his actions were being scrutinized as possible criminal violations. Sources close to Rove say one pressing problem for him is that he initially did not tell investigators he had a conversation with Cooper, then he produced an e-mail to a colleague in which he reported he had spoken to Cooper. He told the grand jury he could recollect very little of the conversation other than a discussion of welfare, sources said. According to sources who were made aware of the conservation, Fitzgerald has been speaking with Cooper's attorney, Richard Sauber, by telephone in the past three days. He is said to have posed several questions to clarify whether Cooper had other conversations with Rove before and after the crucial July 12, 2003, discussion during which Cooper said Rove told him that Wilson's wife worked at the CIA. The aim was apparently to discern how common conversations were between Rove and the reporter, then a newcomer to the White House beat. Sauber, reached at his office late yesterday, declined to comment on any conversations he had with the prosecutor's team. Fitzgerald spokesman Randall Samborn declined to comment. Sources close to Rove said they do not believe the strategist is in the clear, but are confident the prosecutor will determine Rove did nothing illegal. White House critics said Rove's continued presence would expose Bush as a hypocrite. They cite his campaign promise in 2000 to run an ethical government that asks "not only what is legal but what is right" and his 2004 pledge, later softened, to fire anyone involved in the CIA leak. Political pressure is rising from the outside. A few conservatives have suggested it is time for Rove to go. William A. Niskanen, chairman of the libertarian Cato Institute, told Reuters on Tuesday that Bush has to "sacrifice" some top aides starting with Rove, who he said has given good campaign advice but poor guidance on getting legislation passed. Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.) said on MSNBC's "Hardball" the same day, "The question is, should he be the deputy chief of staff for policy under the current circumstances?" Democrats have been more blunt. "It is totally unacceptable that anyone involved in the unauthorized disclosure of the identity of a CIA officer, including your Deputy Chief of Staff, Karl Rove, should remain employed at the White House with a security clearance," Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) wrote Bush yesterday. © 2005 The Washington Post Company 2:38:35 PM    comment []

Oh Come On, Everybody Knows There's Plenty of Fossil Fuel to Go Around. . . GM to Boost Hummer H3, Truck Production - - - - - - - - - - - - November 03,2005 | SHREVEPORT, La. -- General Motors Corp. said Thursday that it will invest about $20 million at its Shreveport assembly plant to increase production of the Hummer H3 and Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon pickup trucks. The company also said the increased production will require the addition of a third shift to its paint department during the first quarter of 2006. The assembly plant currently has about 3,200 employees. The H3 was released to the market in mid-May. GM has said it hopes to sell 20,000 to 30,000 of the vehicles by the end of the year. GM has been hurt in recent years by lackluster sales of its highly profitable truck and sport utility vehicles and market share loss to Asian rivals. Salon provides breaking news articles from the Associated Press as a service to its readers, but does not edit the AP articles it publishes. © 2005 The Associated Press.  2:26:49 PM    comment []

Our Limbo President: Howwww Looooow Can He Goooooo? Bush's Job Approval Hits New Low Nov. 3, 2005 (CBS) Tempers cooled a bit in Washington today after the partisan meltdown that brought Senate business to a halt Tuesday. Even so, neither Congress nor the White House will find much in a new CBS News poll to put them in a better humor. President Bush's job approval has reached the lowest level yet. Only 35 percent approve of the job he's doing. PRESIDENT BUSH'S JOB APPROVAL Approve 35% Disapprove 57% Congress is rated even lower. Only 34 percent approve of its work. Vice President Cheney has never been as popular as the president, but his favorable rating is down nine points this year to just 19 percent. Read more of the results from the latest CBS News poll. So where does the White House go from here? Mr. Bush is finding no shortage of advice, reports CBS News White House correspondent John Roberts. The plunge in poll numbers is another dose of bad news for a White House mired in it. The only recent president lower at this point in their second term was Richard Nixon. What's behind the slide? Two thousand war dead in Iraq, an indictment in the CIA leak, the aborted nomination of Harriet Miers, and the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina. "The president I think has bottomed out. I think last week was the bottom," said Ken Duberstein, who worked in the team that Ronald Reagan brought in to help recover from the Iran-Contra scandal. Duberstein wrote a prescription for change in today's New York Times. "I think that they need to bring in some new blood, new blood that would give the president differing opinions, not someone who has been burned out for four or five years, but somebody who has a fresh perspective," he said. Tuesday's shutdown of the Senate shows the political danger of presidential drift. Democrats sat back and watched for an opening – then moved right in. "Over 60 percent of the American people say we want this country moving in a significantly new direction," said Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.). "They're looking for vision and leadership, they're looking for a voice and that's where the Democrats have to step up." The battle is over momentum heading into an election year. The White House lost it, the Democrats want it, and Republicans in Congress are desperate to hang on to whatever threads are left. "The progress is there and the momentum is there and we're going to deliver for the American people," said Sen. Bill Frist, R-Tenn. "I see signs of obstruction around here all the time, too much for me, but we're just going to try to stay above it." CBS News political correspondent Gloria Borger says that with a low approval rating, the president should not expect any help in Congress. "There are 80 house seats up for grabs and they will not line up behind an unpopular president," Borger said. "They need to get re-elected and George Bush does not." This week's Alito Supreme Court nomination and the president's bird flu speech were the first steps in a turnaround, Duberstein said, but the White House still needs to lose the "bunker" mentality and let in new ideas. "This country can't afford three years of drift and neither can the world," Duberstein said. "The president of the United States of America has to be at the top of his game." So far, there's no indication the president is considering any of the outside advice to shake up the White House. But if he doesn't soon find his footing, suggestions for change will quickly become demands. Borger reports that there is word that Andy Card, the president's chief of staff, might want to be treasury secretary. If so, Borger says that Mr. Bush would only bring in people he feels comfortable with. "If he brings in somebody new, it will be somebody he knows, possibly from his days in Texas." ©MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. 10:36:53 AM    comment []

http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2005/11/03/vanguard/print.html   Bush's bunker strategy A prisoner of the neocons, the president hunkers down, awaiting the outcome of the Libby indictment. By Sidney Blumenthal Nov. 03, 2005 | One year after his reelection President Bush governs from a bunker. "We go forward with complete confidence," he proclaimed in his second inaugural address. He urged "our youngest citizens" to see the future "in the determined faces of our soldiers" and to choose between "evil" and "courage." But as he listened to Bush that day, Vice President Dick Cheney knew that the election had been secured by a coverup. "I would have wished nothing better," declared Patrick Fitzgerald in his press conference of Oct. 28, announcing the indictment on five counts of perjury and obstruction of justice of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff, "that, when the subpoenas were issued in August 2004, witnesses testified then, and we would have been here in October 2004 instead of October 2005. No one would have went to jail." The indictment of Libby documents that it was Cheney who confirmed the exact identity of covert CIA operative Valerie Plame to him. The indictment also describes a figure called "Official A," subsequently disclosed to be Karl Rove, the president's chief political advisor, who informed Libby that he had told conservative columnist Robert Novak of Plame's secret status. The next day, July 12, 2003, Libby conferred with Cheney on how to handle the press on the matter. That same day, Libby revealed Plame's identity to two reporters, Judith Miller of the New York Times and Matthew Cooper of Time magazine. Then Libby falsely testified that he had learned Plame's name from reporters. On Sept. 30, 2003, President Bush emphatically stated that he wanted anyone in his administration with information about the Plame leak to "come forward"; if anyone inside was involved, he wanted to know; and if anyone had violated the law, "the person will be taken care of." On June 10, 2004, he pledged that anyone on his staff who had leaked Plame's name would be fired. When the Libby indictment was announced, Bush and Cheney praised him as a fine public servant. Still under investigation, Rove remains in the West Wing. But Cheney knew during the presidential campaign that he had discussed with Libby how to deal with Plame. Now Bush knows that Rove had enabled Novak to publish her identity. But the president's promise to fire officials is suddenly inoperative. It is apparently acceptable for aides to deceive the president and compromise national security so long as they further his short-term political benefit. Ever-shifting ends justify ever-shifting means. Libby's alleged coverup was undertaken in the spirit of neoconservative Leninism. The vanguard, which sets all policy and uses the party as its instrument, rationalizes any tactic. Libby was a deeply seeded neoconservative apparatchik, possessing long experience and great bureaucratic skill, an inside man, never seeking the spotlight for himself. He was a member of a small cadre of his caliber, not easily replenished. If he had testified truthfully in October 2004 the result would have consumed the final days of the campaign. His Leninist logic permitted him to protect the Republican cause, but he has tainted Bush's victory in history as surely as the Supreme Court decision in Bush v. Gore did in 2000. Bush took his 2004 win as a resounding mandate for a right-wing agenda. His second term was to be the fulfillment of conservative dreams to roll back decades of liberalism. With each right turn, however, his popularity declined. Iraq acted as an accelerator of his fall. His nomination of his White House legal counsel Harriet Miers for the Supreme Court was an acknowledgment of his sharply narrowed political space. Bush believed he could thread the needle with her because her record was unknown. While the Republican masses supported him, the Leninist right staged a revolt. In Bush's cronyism and opportunism, they saw his deviation. He was the disloyalist. With the prosecutor's indictment imminent, Bush withdrew Miers and caved. Broadly unpopular, he could not suffer a split right. His new nominee, federal Judge Samuel Alito, a reliable sectarian, is a tribute to his bunker strategy. Hostage to his failed fortune, Bush is a prisoner of the right. His administration has become its own little republic of fear. Libby's public trial will reveal the administration's political methods. Cheney, along with a host of others, will be called to testify. Whatever other calamities may befall Bush, their specter harries him to the right. "Disunity, dissolution and vacillation" are hallmarks of "the path of conciliation," as Lenin wrote in "What Is to Be Done." The vanguard on "the path of struggle," criticized for being "an exclusive group," must oppose any retreat proposed by the "opportunist rearguard." "We are marching in a compact group along a precipitous and difficult path, firmly holding each other by the hand. We are surrounded on all sides by enemies, and we have to advance almost constantly under their fire." -- By Sidney Blumenthal 8:05:43 AM    comment []

© Copyright 2005 Michael D. Zungolo. Last update: 12/1/2005; 11:07:39 AM.