November 4, 2004 must have been a depressing day for George Soros, who invested millions and millions of his personal fortune to beat George Bush. Soros, who holds foreign citizenship, worked hard to put John Kerry in a position of power where he might carry out some longed for policy changes. But if 11-4-04 was a bad day, then 2-27-05 was a good day. That was Academy Awards day when the film “Million Dollar Baby” took multiple Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actor. And “The Sea Inside” won Best Foreign Film.

Why would Soros be happy? Because both films raise the issue of assisted suicide, one of Soros pet causes. And both awards come just days after the Supreme Court announced that it will hear a case on assisted suicide. Coincidence?

While commentators and reviewers disagree whether “Million Dollar Baby” advocates assisted suicide, the simple fact for viewers is that they are led to sympathize with not just the lead character’s anguish, but also his decision to commit assisted suicide.

“Million Dollar Baby,” which draws most of it power from a strong performance by Best Actress winner Hilary Swank, actually offers a fairly predictable story line. And only the two lead characters are believable—the others are either overdrawn or stereotyped, from the priest to the family members, to the other boxers and managers.

But that didn’t stop Hollywood from rewarding this film with Best Picture honors and overlooking some amazing pieces of work including “Sideways,” “Hotel Rwanda,” and “The Passion of the Christ.”

That’s because Hollywood is still on a political mission. Not only has Hollywood learned nothing from the ’04 elections about interfering with American voters as they choose their leaders and set policy, but now they have also demonstrated their anger and bitterness about their loss through their Oscar choices.

Leonardo DiCaprio, who campaigned across the country with John Kerry, was nominated for Best Actor. Morgan Freeman won an Oscar—that’s Freeman whose voice you heard narrating both Kerry’s splashy campaign video and “The Hunting of the President,” one of the most disgusting and under-criticized pieces of propaganda trash produced this past election season.

Meanwhile, “The Passion of the Christ,” which overwhelmed audiences with its visual power and

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intensity, broke box office records, and broke barriers of all sorts to rise to the top of filmmaking history this year, was completely overlooked.

What? Too Christian? Too Catholic?

Not okay in Hollywood to be anti-communist or anti-Semitic, but perfectly okay to be anti-Christian?

Bitter and blue about their loss of power and respect from America’s real decision makers, media types in Hollywood used Oscar to continue their manipulation, and in this case, to reward one of the liberal left’s wealthiest benefactors, George Soros.

Here in Oregon media players are equally bitter and blue about their lack of respect. Witness Oregonian columnist David Sarasohn’s recent musings that the Portland TrailBlazers and the Oregon Ducks have losing seasons because they broadcast on a radio station that also airs conservative talk shows. And Sarasohn suggests that the Portland State University Vikings have a winning season because they broadcast along with left-wing rantings. Comments like these—juvenile, biased, and completely baseless—would be laughable were they not presented as serious journalism in the state’s newspaper of record.

Please. This is no different than suggesting that Meier and Frank’s recent reported drop in sales and possible closure of stores is due to their heavy marketing affiliation with the left-leaning Oregonian.

Both local media and the Hollywood moguls risk significant loss of credibility and even greater loss of respect for their products, if they continue their bitter reprisals.

Soros has been rewarded for his mega-millions in political contributions. Enough. Scrape off the bumper-stickers, cancel the pity party… snap out of it. Oregon and the nation need to move forward with optimism, rewarding merit, productivity, and real success. No one likes a sore loser, even when they’re disguised as winners like “Million Dollar Baby.”

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