David Swanson: ED Asner, it's terrific to talk to you.
Ed Asner: Back atcha.
David Swanson: I would like to thank you first of all for having recorded a public-service announcement for a group I work with called After Downing Street. We have dozens of them now, but yours was the first and got going and we really appreciated that.
Ed Asner: Thank you.
David Swanson: I want to talk to you about this play, "A Nation Deceived", in which a country prosecutor prosecutes Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld for...
Ed Asner: Country lawyer, not prosecutor.
David Swanson: Excuse me, a country lawyer. He serves as prosecutor, does he not in this case?
Ed Asner: Well, he is the plaintiff, and becomes the prosecutor in the trial. I don't know how realistically possible that is, but for the sake of drama, we employ that technique here. The author is a prominent attorney out of Colorado who has won some phenomenal cases against the government and achieving greater freedom so, he has to know what he's talking about, Craig Barnes.
David Swanson: Yes, I interviewed Craig, and he seems to be quite a brilliant playwright as well as an attorney. I'm sure your schedule is packed; what made you take time to do this particular play?
Ed Asner: Well I think it's a very effective piece in assembling.... I mean for six years now we been watching the crimes of this administration heap up, and most people are just swamped I think, in hearing they did this now, they did that now, but to see a drama, which in a short piece of an evening, in 2 to 3 hours, they hear amassed in the courtroom the crimes of this administration, particularly in terms of the war and what brought us into it. I think it serves a very useful purpose of education, and awakening for those who may have gone to sleep at the 15th crime that may have been committed along the way.
David Swanson: I agree; it gets to be overwhelming. Now, you have done public readings or performances of this already, is that right? Can you tell me where you've done it and how it's been received?
Ed Asner: I don't remember the name of the particular theater, but we did it in Santa Fe, and the Veterans for Peace were the arrangers at that time and we performed it two nights and that made a DVD for circulation to churches and whoever wanted to see it subsequently.
David Swanson: And that should soon be available for purchase at anationdeceived.com, is that right?
DAVID SWANSON is a co-founder of After Downing Street, a writer and activist, and the Washington Director of Democrats.com. He is a board member of Progressive Democrats of America, and serves on the Executive Council of the Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, TNG-CWA. He has worked as a newspaper reporter and as a communications director, with jobs including Press Secretary for Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign, Media Coordinator for the International Labor Communications Association, and three years as Communications Coordinator for ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. Swanson obtained a Master's degree in philosophy from the University of Virginia in 1997.
Very few in our entertainment industry dare to speak out the way Mr. Asner does and he deserves accolades for his courage and his conscience.
The people of Mexico are nowhere near as convinced of the honesty of their government as are most Americans. For so long we have held this image of our nation as pure and honest and well intentioned that even the last five years have made only a little dent in that facade. The Mexican people understand that they live under corrupt leaders and thus are out in the streets while the average American will not accept the blatant facts of their leader's incompetence and unscrupulous looting of our treasury for the personal gain of the few, thus they have faith in the election process and stay at home. Pity.
by
ardee D. (6 articles, 4 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 2388 comments)
on Saturday, November 4, 2006 at 6:19:45 PM
