Let's start a letter writing campaign against the pro-war ads in MN

[Oreo]

These ads have disgusted me from the start but now that we find that Erik Kesterson's REAL Mom is against the war and the woman in the commercial is his step-mom I've had enough.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x479658#479668

Please email, call, and write the following stations. Even if they're not showing the ad, they may do more news stories about it.

WCCO http://wcco.com/contact - Be sure to send it to Management, News, Radio, Sales, etc etc. Press back and change who you're sending to so you don't have to retype.
1-800-444-WCCO

KARE11 http://www.kare11.com/company/faq/contact.aspx - Same as above
Switchboard: [phone]

KSTP [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail] [e-mail] - They're not airing the ad but it's important they know about Kesterson
Switchboard: [phone]

KMSP FOX 9 http://www.kmsp.com/features/contactus/
General Office: [phone]

Here's what I wrote
This is the real Mom of Erik Kesterson and she is AGAINST the war. The person in the horrible ad you're running is his stepmom. They fail to mention that. Please read this and watch this video and then rethink why you're showing that blatant propaganda backed by a multimillion dollar organization with direct ties to the Bush Administration.

http://www.ustourofduty.org/pages/videoDoloresPrez_high.html

VIDEO INTERVEIW WITH Dolores Kesterson

By Jeff Norman
August 11, 2005
Cindy Sheehan is not the only Gold Star mom who felt disrespected after a visit with George W. Bush. Dolores Kesterson, whose son Erik was killed in Iraq in November of 2003, was among several military families who last year were invited to meet with Bush as a group. Each family was allotted ten minutes with the president, but because she is divorced from her husband, Dolores asked to speak with Bush one-on-one.

Dolores reports exclusively for U.S. Tour of Duty that she waited alone in a small partitioned area, wondering if her request would be granted, before a Bush aide suddenly announced, "The president will now see you." As the commander in chief strode briskly toward her, it seemed to Dolores that he was trying to intimidate her. "He came marching in and got right in my face...eyeball to eyeball, and said, 'I'm George Bush, the president of the United States, and I understand you have something to say to me in private.'"

Dolores tried to give Bush a sense of what type of person Erik had been. She described her son as a "comedian" whose favorite saying was, "Life is good." The president replied, "How do you know his life would have been good?"

Dolores was shocked by Bush's eagerness to question the value of her son's life. She told the president, "Nobody wants to die."

Before he concluded their meeting, Bush proclaimed to Dolores, "We won't know in our lifetime whether or not Iraq was a success."VIDEO INTERVEIW WITH Dolores Kesterson

By Jeff Norman
August 11, 2005
Cindy Sheehan is not the only Gold Star mom who felt disrespected after a visit with George W. Bush. Dolores Kesterson, whose son Erik was killed in Iraq in November of 2003, was among several military families who last year were invited to meet with Bush as a group. Each family was allotted ten minutes with the president, but because she is divorced from her husband, Dolores asked to speak with Bush one-on-one.

Dolores reports exclusively for U.S. Tour of Duty that she waited alone in a small partitioned area, wondering if her request would be granted, before a Bush aide suddenly announced, "The president will now see you." As the commander in chief strode briskly toward her, it seemed to Dolores that he was trying to intimidate her. "He came marching in and got right in my face...eyeball to eyeball, and said, 'I'm George Bush, the president of the United States, and I understand you have something to say to me in private.'"

Dolores tried to give Bush a sense of what type of person Erik had been. She described her son as a "comedian" whose favorite saying was, "Life is good." The president replied, "How do you know his life would have been good?"

Dolores was shocked by Bush's eagerness to question the value of her son's life. She told the president, "Nobody wants to die."

Before he concluded their meeting, Bush proclaimed to Dolores, "We won't know in our lifetime whether or not Iraq was a success."

[Love Bug]

1. Good idea but your letter doesn't go far enough

It is not enough to state the factual errors of the ads -- they don't really care. What they do care about, though, is ratings. What we should tell them is every time we see one of these ads we are going to change the channel and watch KSTP, PBS or cable for the rest of the night. We should also tell them that we are going to inform their other advertisers of this campaign since they should we aware that they are losing "eyeballs."

We should also tell them that we plan to monitor what ads they accept during the upcoming election season -- if they continue to show "issue" ads with no regard for truth they can expect to lose a lot of audience to Turner Classic Movies or PBS.

Without consequences there is no incentive for them to change.

[myrna minx]

2. I am interested to see if these ads are actually

having their desired effect on Minnesotans. Have you seen any polls that indicate an uptick in support of the war? I just saw a poll in GD that stated that 55% of Americans view the war as a mistake. I'd be interested if the numbers in MN have changed one way or the other as a result of these ads. Everyone I know finds them to be despicable, but that isn't a good litmus test at all.

[bvar22]

3. Will anybody compile a list of local sponsors?

I will watch WCCO News tonight and post a list of local sponsors we can target for boycotts and letter campaigns.

Anybody?


BTW: Great letter in the Strib (netlets)
Congratulations to KSTP

There has been an avalanche of pure propaganda produced by Progress for American Voter Fund running on Minnesota television. It is an outrage, a shameless, bald-face lie continuing to imply that Al-Qaida and Iraq were responsible for 9/11. Also these ads criticize the media for not covering the war accurately. Most Americans today finally understand the lies and manipulations foisted upon them by the Bush administration and 56 percent are now against the Iraq war.

So what are WCCO and KARE doing promoting these ads? Hello, You, Are The Media! Clearly lining their pockets with the Republican/Bush propaganda machine money trumps truth, accuracy and ethical promotional considerations. The fiercely independent Rob Hubbard, head of KSTP, refused to run them for the reasons stated in this letter. Perhaps the real lesson for citizens is that if you want objectivity and truth by your news organization?

You better stick with one that is not beholden to the big bucks.

C.D. AUCKENTHALER, MINNEAPOLIS

http://www.startribune.com/563/story/262753.html

[indigo32]

4. My home has actually received two direct mailings from these

Mother F'rs. Pics of the towers, ect...
I suppose this is all about 2006, but I just cannot stomach the continued tying of Iraq to 9/11. Who the hell believes that any more.