Jack(ass) Valenti stirs up a storm in L.A.

[Steve Schear]

The Motion Picture Association of America's decision to ban DVDs of Oscar 
contenders for Academy Awards voters has developed into an industry cat 
fight, (as) distributors and publicists of smaller films, who fear that 
their pictures no longer will have a shot at a gold statuette.

The MPAA acted after discovering that of the 68 titles sent to members of 
the academy and the press last year, 34 wound up on the streets as 
counterfeits. Valenti adds that the DVDs' recipients are not to blame.

Until the controversy over the MPAA decision dies down, Valenti will follow 
the advice of his former boss, President Lyndon B. Johnson. "You just 
hunker down like a jackass in a hailstorm and wait till the wind stops 
blowing," Valenti said. [Bad example.  LBJ tried this during Vietnam and 
look what happened ;-) ]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2003/10/08/DD69468.DTL&type=movies